Departer
by SwallowTheSun
Summary: The Pokémon World is shocked when the unthinkable happens, several thousand people have been killed and the murderer is missing. Sinnoh Champion Cynthia teams up with Ash's mother Delia and his old travelling companions to try and find Ash and unravel the mystery. But they're not the only ones looking for Ash Ketchum... Contains violence, swearing, sexual humour and Pokéshipping.
1. Chapter 1: Enter The Colossus

**Hello all, I am Swallow The Sun and this is my first story 'Departer'.**

**Just a bit of background info for this story. Ash started his journey at 13, followed the Anime journeys but after Unova he decided to redo Sinnoh, again with Brock and Dawn, competing in the Lily of the Valley Conference and reaching the finals, which is where this story starts. Ash is now 20, Misty 21, Brock 26, May 20, Max 15 Dawn 18, Iris 20, Gary 20, Cilan 23, Tracey 24.**

**Also Pokemon will have amazing healing potential in this story, a severed arm could regrow in a couple of days, so don't be too alarmed by seemingly grievously injured Pokemon. I will make it clear if a Pokemon has suffered any mortal wounds.**

**I feel I must confess that I have not actually watched beyond the Orange Archipelago, so nearly all interpretations of all characters not featured in Kanto and Orange will be based off the many stories I have read here. I apologise for any incorrect assumptions which I may have thought of as canon.**

**This story is violent and gruesome; there is a torture scene pretty early on and there will be a lot of beloved character death. I am unsure whether I will write any lemons in this. That will be up to you. But there will be many sexual jokes and such.**

**A large space separating two paragraphs means that the setting has changed, either to a different character or location or time, etc.  
However a series of x's separating two paragraphs means that it is still in the same setting, but the point of view has changed to someone else in that setting. **

**Please read and constructively criticize, is the violence too much? Is the story too uneven and disorganized? Are the chapters too long? Comment on problems you find. Thank you.**

**Flames will be ignored.**

**I don't own Pokémon.**

* * *

**Chapter 1: Enter The Colossus**

**_Lily of the Valley Island; 23/03/2013  
Finals:_**

The crowd was roaring with anticipation and the ground was trembling slightly under the immense weight of all the spectators moving about in excitement. The cheers of the crowd washed over him and caused his skin to prickle with the familiar sensation of goose bumps.

Paul opened his eyes and smirked; this is what he lived for, to feel the might of his fans behind him as he crushed his opponents into the ground with his superior Pokémon team. He was particularly excited as not only had he made it to the finals of the Lily of the Valley Conference, but his opponent was none other than his rival, Ash Ketchum, a man he had come to respect almost as much as he despised.

He admitted that Ash's way of training seemed to produce some very admirable results, but Paul was determined to show Ash that power should come first when training Pokémon, and what better way to prove that than defeating him in front of several thousand people?

Paul assumed his usual apathetic expression as he strode forth under the gaze of his many fans to the center of the stadium, where Ash Ketchum awaited.

Paul grimaced as he heard Dawn's shrill screams piercing through the cacophony as she cheered for Ash; even amidst a crowd of several thousand people that troublesome girl managed to somehow make herself heard. He thought he could see Ketchum's other friend, the horny one, smiling proudly at Ash with his arms crossed. Paul scoffed and then focused his attention on his opponent.

Ketchum stood with his arms crossed, unsmiling and unwavering and with an expression of… sorrow? Paul frowned; considering that he himself could barely contain his excitement and that Ketchum seemed to have a penchant for immature displays of excitement, Paul would have thought that Ketchum would literally be bouncing up and down, not seemingly about to break down into tears.

**15 Minutes earlier:**

A Trainer and his Pokémon walked into the room.

The raven haired man sat down scooping up his Pikachu; he remained there awhile, tightly hugging his companion as his mind traveled back to a happier time when he had first been given Pikachu as his starter Pokémon and the adventures the two of them had shared since. He wanted to cherish those memories forever as he knew he wouldn't be able to for much longer.

He remembered when Pikachu first refused to fight for him, when Pikachu took down Surge's Raichu, when they found that brave Caterpie in the woods, or that faithful Charmander, or that determined Taillow. He remembered when he met an almost identical friend in the Indigo League with a similar Pikachu and again in the Whirl Islands. He remembered his journey and he held Pikachu and he wept in solitude.

The air in his lungs felt hot and putrid, he felt as though roots were slowly climbing up his spine and filling his skull. He felt as a volcano, about to erupt. He felt as though he had not enough skin to cover his body, as if he was expanding and his flesh was straining. He felt darkness filling his body, flowing through his veins, filling his fingers, burning his throat and chaining his heart… It was time.

He steeled himself, kissed his starter on his head and stood up, "You ready Pikachu? This is it now, there's no coming back from this." He said, his voice cracking in despair. The pikachu gazed sadly at his master before solemnly nodding at him. The raven-haired man stifled a sob at his pikachu's broken expression and turned his face away. "Let's go then, it's time to fulfill your… destiny…" The man spat out the word 'destiny' as if it were a vile taste in his mouth.

A Trainer and his Pokémon had walked into the room, two martyrs walked out.

**Present time:**

Mentally shrugging Paul decided to ignore Ketchum's strange attitude and as he reached the centre of the stadium, he stretched out his hand and greeted his opponent. "Good luck Ketchum, may the better Trainer win." Ash stared down at Paul's hand with barely concealed agony before grasping his hand and raising his eyes back to Paul's face and speaking, "I really hope you survive this O'Connell, they'll need you before the end."

** xxxxxxxx**

Brock frowned; what the hell was that? He saw the confrontation and although he couldn't hear the words exchanged, it was clear that Ash had said something that disturbed Paul. Dawn also noticed it and turned to Brock. "What was that Brock? What's wrong with Ash?"

Brock shook his head and replied. "I'm not sure Dawn." Then, deciding to comfort Dawn. "But I'm sure everything's fine, Ash is probably just feeling a bit nervous, Arceus knows I would be acting strange in his position." Dawn smiled and agreed. "Yeah that must be it, he's come too far to lose now, the pressure he must feeling would be too much for me to handle." Brock smiled at Dawn's optimism, but inwardly frowned; his gut was telling him that something was wrong… very wrong.

** xxxxxxxx**

Paul narrowed his eyes with shock and confusion, there was definitely something wrong with Ketchum. Since when was Pokémon battling about surviving? And since when did Ketchum go about referring to people by their surname?

And what was this about the 'end'? Sure battling your rival in the finals of the Lily of the Valley Conference was a pretty epic occurrence but it could hardly be compared to a battle to the death, a prospect that Ash seemed to refer to by speaking about the 'end', also, why the hell was he so sad? Had somebody just died?

Paul, still frowning in confusion, hastily turned around and walked back to his podium at a rather uneven pace as he tried to grasp what just happened. Although almost definitively overreacting, his thoughts had begun to dangle on the edge between common sense and indescribable dread; he had the terrible feeling that something bad was about to happen.

He turned around to see that Ash had already reached his podium and that the referee was about to begin the battle. The referee stepped forward and gestured all around to quiet the crowd down. It took a while but finally the deafening cheers began to die down.

Eventually a state of absolute silence was reached, so piercing that one could probably hear a Ninjask's wings humming softly were there one present. The referee took a deep breath and then began to shout, his microphone amplifying his voice so that it echoed around the entire stadium. "This is a 6 vs 6 Pokémon battle between Paul O'Connell of Veilstone City and Ash Ketchum of Pallet Town, the victor of which will take home the Lily of the Valley trophy and be given the chance to face the Sinnoh Elite Four and finally the Regional Champion, Cynthia!"

The crowd erupted in cacophony, screaming and cheering in pure excitement and joy as the prospect of a Pokémon battle of epic proportions beginning just a few seconds away filled their minds. The referee gestured again and once that same piercing silence was achieved again, he smiled widely and shouted. "Now! Trainers… CHOOSE YOUR FIRST POKEMON!"

The crowd roared once again as Paul picked a PokéBall from his belt and proceeded to toss it out onto the open field, "Aggron! Deliver unto my foes your relentless carnage!" The referee, and a few others in the crowd, winced slightly at Paul's introduction but Paul didn't really care all that much, he had always been a bit of an absolutist.

** xxxxxxxx**

Back in the stands Dawn was openly laughing and even Brock had traces of mirth around his worried face. Dawn turned to Brock and said "Haha! What a ridiculous way to introduce a Pokémon eh Brock?" Brock, despite his feeling of dread, replied with a large smile, however it was quickly wiped off his face when he glanced at Ash… What the hell was he doing?!

** xxxxxxxx**

A huge bipedal figure appeared on the field and roared thunderously as it stamped its steel-clad claws into the ground, making it quake tremendously. Primarily black and grey, it had a huge girth and a long, thick black tail. Upon its head appeared to be a steel skull resembling that of some prehistoric carnivore, with two lethal looking horns protruding directly above its piercing blue eyes.

Paul and his Iron Armour Pokémon Aggron proceeded to stare ahead at whatever Pokémon their rival had chosen for the first round, but to their shock they found not one, but three Pokémon staring straight back. In the centre was Ketchum's most famous Pokémon, a small yellow mouse with long black-tipped pointy ears. Two red spots were present on the mouse's cheeks while its tail was shaped like that of childish depiction of a thunderbolt, its root the same dark brown as the horizontal stripes that ran down his back.

To the left of Pikachu was a floating ore of obsidian with two horns protruding from amidst the exoskeleton of ice that surrounded its body and framed its piercing blue eyes and flat teeth. To the right of Pikachu was a large butterfly, its snout the same colour as its pale blue legs and paws. It had large black-veined white wings and huge red compound eyes that watched everything on the battlefield simultaneously.

The crowd cried in outrage, prompting the referee to move forward and call out, "Trainer Ketchum! This is a single Pokémon battle! Choose one Pokémon and recall the others now or you will be disqualified from the match!" Ash ignored the referee and gazed sorrowfully at Pikachu, who returned the gaze, then, his voice breaking as the full implications of what he was about to do hit him, he began to shout out commands to his team: "Butterfree, use Stun Spore and then use Gust to spread it all around the stadium. Glalie! Use Double Team and begin orbiting Pikachu, then use Gyro Ball but don't target anything! Pikachu use Light Screen; don't let Butterfree's spores paralyze you or Glalie!"

Paul watched helplessly and with shock as golden spores began to pour out of Butterfree's pores to form a thick cloud around the butterfly. Then Butterfree's wings flapped forward and sent the cloud rushing throughout the stadium. The spores entered through all of Paul's orifices and his body immediately sensed an overload of foreign particles.

In panic his brain sent electrical impulses down his spine as it tried to urgently relay the message to his immune system to destroy the spores. However the relentless wave of electrical impulses, its power amplified by the secondary effect of the spores, only caused more problems as it temporarily fried Paul's nerves and synapses, freezing him in place and effectively paralyzing him. The only organs and muscles he could use were those of his lungs, throat, nose, eyes and tongue; he could still breathe, see and talk, as was the case for everyone else in the stadium.

** xxxxxxxx**

"Brock! What's going on! What's wrong with Ash? What's he doing?!" Brock's earlier feeling of dread returned a thousand fold as he stared at Ash. "I don't know Dawn! I've never seen Ash like this!" It was true; what he saw on Ash's face wasn't fear, it wasn't hate, it wasn't happiness or ominous fury… it was sorrow…

Brock's words did little to comfort to Dawn and she began shaking in fear as frightened tears squeezed from her tightly shut eyes. Around her people were reacting the same way; it seemed no one could make sense of what Ash was doing, and they were absolutely terrified because of it.

** xxxxxxxx**

Meanwhile rotating around Pikachu were several glowing Glalie, its use of Gyro Ball temporarily creating a metallic aura and therefore gaining the magnetic properties of certain metals. Ash gasped, dragging himself out of his pain and sadness and congratulated his Pokémon; "Good work Butterfree! Come stay with me and help me get out of here when the time comes; I can't move either."

"Pikachu use Reverse Magnet Rise!", "Pika!" Pikachu slammed his tail into the ground as his body became surrounded with intense sparks, absorbing the roaming electrons surrounding the multiple Glalie thus making Pikachu's skin negatively charged and the white aura of the Glalies positively charged. Due to the natural attraction between positively and negatively charged objects, the Glalies begun to slowly drift towards Pikachu until they had tightly packed Pikachu in the centre of a revolving circle.

Ash paused then and, with tears streaming down his face and a broken voice, whispered, "Goodbye my old friend…" before shouting out the last words Pikachu would ever hear, "Pikachu, use Thunder and Glalie, use Explosion! Butterfree! Get me out of here!"  
Ash squeezed his eyes shut and screamed in sorrow as he heard Pikachu's last confirmation. His mind was flooded with memories of Pikachu with him on his journey, from the day they met to this morning.

** xxxxxxxx**

Dawn screamed in fear along with everyone else in the stadium. She was openly weeping now, trembling and emptying her bowels. Brock could only stand still in shock as the man he loved as a brother ordered genocide.

** xxxxxxxx**

Time seemed to slow down to a standstill for Paul as he and the thousands of people around him watched on in horror while the multiple Glalies began to glow a brilliant white. He didn't realise he was crying, or that he was on his knees. He didn't hear the terrified screams around him as people desperately tried to move their limbs in order to flee the impending disaster. He didn't notice Butterfree land on a weeping Ketchum's head and use Teleport, warping his particles and tearing a hole through the fabric of reality to disappear into thin air.

He also didn't see that Pikachu's Light Screen had unintentionally protected Aggron and that it had resisted the Stun Spore until it had leaped up onto the podium, gathered Paul in his arms and used Iron Defense in one last act of incredible bravery and compassion.

** xxxxxxxx**

Brock gazed down at the small, trembling blue haired girl next to him and with indescribable pain and sorrow he decided to offer his last few words of comfort and brotherly love to her. "Dawn… Dawn listen to me… Everything is going to be fine, just close your eyes and think of the happiest time of your life. Cherish that memory and nothing can hurt you, you'll see, there's no need to wor-"

The mass of white light that was Glalie and Pikachu suddenly intensified as a massive fork of lightning struck it from the now cloudy skies. The light expanded rapidly, encompassing the entire stadium and blinding everybody. Within the white light ran strong electrical currents that shocked everyone with the intensity of the lightning from the skies. Clothing was ignited and flesh was roasted, organs were liquefied and bones were shattered. And then the light exploded.

The sound of concrete shattering and bodies being ripped apart could be heard for miles in any direction. The screams were instantly silenced as incredible heat melted through what remained of flesh and bone, igniting hair and the plastic of the chairs. Several thousand lives were ended abruptly; adult, child and Pokémon alike.

** xxxxxxxx**

Nothing and only one person escaped the might of Ash Ketchum's Pokémon, for as the dust cleared, revealing a massive blackened crater where the entire stadium once stood, there lay the charred corpse of Aggron and beneath him, wrapped tightly in his arms, lay Paul O'Connell, who could only listen not to the people's cheers and screams of excitement as he felled one of Ash's Pokémon, but rather to the deathly silence of the aftermath of a massacre.

Paul's mind barely registered that he was alive and that it was because his own Pokémon sacrificed his life for him, he briefly wondered whether his brother had made it to the match in time and if he had been incinerated as well before the dark clutches of unconsciousness grasped him and dragged him into the recesses of his mind.

**_Somewhere; somewhen  
Somehow:_**

The blade dripped crimson while the mess of bloodspots on the floor grew ever larger and more complete as the victim screamed and thrashed against his bonds. The wielder of the blade grinned as he felt the reverberations of his victim's screams through the steel of his knife as it skittered upon his victim's flesh as a Yanmega upon the surface of a still pond, carving deeper and deeper and yet never inflicting any mortal wounds.

Briefly the wielder wondered how much pain a man could take before even a blissey couldn't keep the man alive. He smirked as he realized that his Alakazam could probably keep anyone alive no matter the pain they went through; it was a prime specimen after all. He wagered that his Alakazam could ensure the victim would live through a skinning and then place the flesh back upon his bones as if it were never peeled off.

The wielder sneered; that idea could be put to use later, a last resort to get this man to break.

A gurgling rasp amidst the screams and moans snapped the wielder back to what he was doing. He cursed and wrenched the knife free of the deep puncture wound he had accidentally inflicted while lost in his thoughts. He turned to Alakazam and gestured to the wound, Alakazam nodded and crossed his spoons, his eyes began to glow an ethereal blue as his mind utilized the thousands of IQ he had to warp the fabric of reality and perform the move known as 'Recover'.

The victim's entire body was suddenly surrounded in that same ethereal blue and he gasped as his body began to convulse. The convulsions stopped almost immediately and instead his body began to quiver. All his wounds began to slowly close up living only pink scars until they too began to turn white and then fade away.

The wielder smiled; 'Recover' was a fascinating move, the user of the move delved deep into the body of the receiver and copied the structure and formula of the receiver's white blood cells, once the data of the cells had been memorized, the user then began to replicate the blood cells radically and then spread the cells to all the sites of infliction on the body. All the replicated blood cells were suspended in that ethereal blue aura so that when the process was complete and the aura had faded away, the blood cells within faded away as well so as not cause a huge chemical imbalance in the receiver's body.

The wielder grimaced; he had seen that once. When his Alakazam was just a Kadabra and it tried to heal another of his Pokémon, it had failed to successfully dispel the healing aura. The Pokémon's white blood cells malfunctioned and began to attack every other cell in the body. The wielder had decided to put it out its misery when its flesh began to dissolve.

When Alakazam was done, the victim's flesh looked like that of a newborn, any scars or blemishes prior to the torturing also having been healed. The wielder wiped his blade clean with disinfectant-covered cloth, it would certainly be anticlimactic if his victim died from an infection after all, and he looked upon his victim.

He smiled as he heard the whimpering and ragged breaths; 'Recover' only healed physical trauma inflicted upon the receiver, any emotional trauma the receiver had experienced was there to stay.

The wielder moved closer, blade in hand, as he once again attempted to interrogate his victim. "Come, come, Mr. Ketchum, you must ask yourself if all this pain is really worth these secrets. After all, you haven't seen your wife in at least 20 years and you haven't even met your son, they probably don't care about you anymore, so why should you care about them? I don't even care about your wife, all I want is your son and you've never even met him so you should have no emotional connection with him at all. So tell me, where is Ash Ketchum?"

As he spoke he twirled the blade around his fingers with skill and precision; he was very experienced with the blade, as he was sure Mr. Ketchum realized for himself while it was cutting his flesh earlier.

Although the victim's hands were bound tightly to his side he managed to gesture the wielder to come closer with a curling of his fingers. The wielder grinned and leaned to hear the victim's whisper. The victim managed to groan out his words, "Why don't you take one of those lovely spoons of your Alakazam over there… and then proceed to go fuck yourself with it."

The wielder's grin only intensified and as he turned to Alakazam, he spoke rather gleefully, "You'll soon be repenting those words Mr. Ketchum," he said to the man, and then to Alakazam, "Fetch Kabutops but don't teleport or project your thoughts to it; you need to conserve your psychic energy, you're going to have to if Mr. Ketchum is to survive his ordeal."

The wielder turned back to his victim and spoke all too sinisterly, "I would say that I had been hoping it wouldn't come to this, but then I would be lying and far be it for me to lie to a clearly honourable man such as yourself in your time of agony."

The wielder chuckled briefly before continuing. "The truth is I have been looking forward to this for a very long time Mr. Ketchum. Now, I've noticed that, aside from a whole lot of screaming and groaning, you're not really using your tongue much are you? Well, far be it for me to let you prance around with such a useless organ if you don't even need it!"

The victim chuckled, much to the agitation of his torturer, and with a condescending voice, spoke. "And how do you plan to learn what I know if I can't form the words?" To the victim's dread, the wielder started laughing uproariously.

The wielder wiped his eyes before explaining. "My dear friend, although Psychic Pokémon cannot force their way into our heads, which is infuriating to say the least," The wielder glared at his Alakazam as if it were somehow his fault, Alakazam just returned his glare with a blank stare. "Alakazam can pry the secrets from your head when you surrender to him, so I have little use for your tongue as well. And if removing your tongue doesn't loosen it,"

The wielder paused and chuckled a little at his unintentional pun, "You needn't worry; Kabutops has plenty of ways to make you talk Mr. Ketchum. I've seen him eviscerate a man in the space of two seconds, I'm not sure that he actually even felt it at first, but after a few seconds his facial expression was great source of amusement to me!"

The wielder paused to lose himself in memories of excessive violence as his psychopathic mind delighted at them. "When you are ready to be cooperative project your thoughts to Alakazam, the torturing will cease immediately."

The victim shuddered and whimpered as the wielder began to chuckle ominously at the sight of Alakazam returning with an accomplice; a bipedal crustacean whose wicked claws clacked against the cold steel floor, it had a dark brown exoskeleton that covered its head and extended down his back, where it jutted out in a mess of spikes and ridges. Its chest was covered in hard pectoral bones, which extended down to cover its abdominal region as well.

But what was most frightening about the creature was that instead of hands, the creature had vicious looking scythes that shone through countless years of honing and polishing, those blades could most likely slice through the hard exterior of a Steelix like a hot knife through butter, never mind the soft flesh of a human.

The wielder greeted the new arrival with barely contained glee, "Kabutops, don't go easy on him, Alakazam will ensure that he survives and will stop you when he hears a result." The wielder turned away and began heading towards the exit as he saw the creature's blades descending, the muffled screams had already started before he had taken his second step and as he approached the door, his grin only grew.

**_Twinleaf Town; 26/03/2013_**

Johanna Berlitz stood quietly as she fiddled with her black dress, absentmindedly tugging at her belt buckle as she wondered what her daughter was up to; how far had she gone on her journey? Why was she wearing black of all colours? How close was Dawn to winning her first contest? Had she already won several? She really loved Dawn dearly, and she wished she could see more of her, she wished she could hear Dawn's signature catchphrase 'no need to worry' once again.

_"No need to worry"_

She smiled as she heard it again in her head, said in Dawn's own sweet voice. While she missed Dawn so she knew she was in good company; with the mature and incredibly sensible Brock looking after her and Ash, the good-natured and friendly Pokémon Trainer. Ash was a very honourable man and a formidable battler, he had his morals in the right place and he was a lying, massacring psychopath. Johanna frowned; where had _that_ come from?

_"No need to worry"_

"Mrs… Mrs. Berlitz? I'm s-so sorry for your loss, D-Dawn didn't deserve this… No one deserved this…" Johanna snapped her head up, startled, as she heard someone addressing her. There in front of her stood Kenny, his hands nervously smoothing the invisible wrinkles in his black suit and his combed auburn hair framing his face as his coal black eyes glistened with tears. "…What? What didn't Dawn deserve?" Johanna asked in honest confusion.

_"No need to worry"_

Kenny widened his eyes with concern and confusion as he asked Johanna, "Mrs. Berlitz, are you alright?" Johanna blinked in confusion and began to take in her surroundings. She was standing in a cemetery on an overcast day while people milled around her, also all dressed in black. She caught a few pitying and sorrowful gazes thrown in her direction and began to wonder what was going on.

_"No need to worry"_

She glanced behind Kenny to see a closed empty casket. She paused; how would she know that the casket was empty if it was closed? Her gaze trailed up the casket and eventually reached a slab of stone situated above the casket with words etched upon its surface. She read the words with trepidation.

_"No need to worry"_

'Here lies Dawn Berlitz,

A loving daughter and a friend to all,

Her beautiful smile and spirit will remain forever in our hearts.

(1994-2013)

R.I.P'

With an anguished cry Johanna fell to her knees and began heaving, but nothing came up. She remembered everything; the casket was empty because all that was left of her daughter was her murderer's namesake. Johanna had a very loving and gentle spirit, a thing that her daughter,  
_"No need to worry"  
_had inherited, but Johanna knew without a doubt that she wanted Ash Ketchum dead; she wanted to spit on his bones before they were grinded into oblivion by her Kangaskhan. She wanted Ash to feel the pain that Dawn had felt before her last breath.

_"No need to worry"_

Having finally stopped retching, she threw her head back and let loose a heart wrenching scream of absolute pain as she heard Dawn's voice over and over again,_ "No need to worry",_ before her eyes rolled back into her head and she collapsed in a heap in front of her only daughter's empty casket. The last thing she heard before falling to unconsciousness was her darling daughter's dear voice.

_"No need to worry"_

**_Pewter City Gym/Harrison household; 28/03/2013_**

Lola glanced worriedly out her window as she washed the dishes and what she saw was the cause for her worry. Ever since the funeral two days ago, Forrest had been training his Pokémon brutally and without rest. His Pokémon were tired and ill and could hardly find the energy to move, never mind battle, yet still Forrest commanded them to battle each other and never let up. She could feel the cold waves of anger radiating from her now eldest son that had been present since Brock's funeral.

Aside from his Rhyperior, his strongest Pokémon, Forrest had a full team of ruthlessly strong rock Pokémon that cared for him as deeply as any Pokémon would for a once loving Trainer like Forrest. Surrounding him was his Onix (the offspring of Brock's Steelix), his Golem (the offspring of Brock's Geodude), his Tyranitar, his Omastar, and his Aerodactyl, the last two a gift from the local museum curator for earning the status as one of the toughest Gym Leaders in Kanto, behind Misty and Sabrina.

Suddenly Rhyperior fell down, beaten and unconscious and causing his fellow teammates to stop battling as they gathered around him in concern. "What's going on? What's happening?" Forrest demanded as he tried to shove his Pokémon out of the way. When he reached the fallen Drill Pokémon his eyes widened in fury and began to prod the Pokémon in order to wake it up. "Rhyperior! Get up now! Don't start slacking; only weak Pokémon slack and I don't train weak Pokémon!"

The mass of rock was unresponsive and this only served to agitate Forrest further, his prods became more solid until he began punching and pounding the Pokémon. "Get up! Get up and fight you pathetic lump of shit! Ash is out there alive and well and you are just lying around doing nothing?! I won't let that bastard get away with this! I won't! I can't! YOU HEAR ME ASH KETCHUM! YOU WON'T GET AWAY WITH THIS, I WON'T LET YOU! I WON'T LET YOU!"

By now Forrest had stopped beating on Rhyperior, his hands a bloody and bruised mess cupping his face. He wept as he thought of his brother, a man he loved more than anyone, perhaps even more than his father. He thought of his brother's killer, a man Brock trusted more than anyone else in the world, perhaps even more than his own family. Ash had repaid that trust with a violent death that someone like Brock didn't deserve.

Lola dropped the bowl she was currently drying, uncaring of whether it broke or not as she ran outside to her distraught son. Forrest's Pokémon were standing around him in a circle staring down at him with sad eyes when Lola reached him.

Lola paid them no heed as she pushed Omastar out of the way to reach her beloved son. She fell to her knees and wrapped her son in her arms and held him tight. Forrest's Pokémon huddled around them willing their love into the heartbroken pair. It was a sad time in the household of the Harrison's as mother and son held each other and wept, mourning their fallen son and brother.

* * *

**_Viridian City Police Station; 01/04/2013_**

Delia Ketchum sat in silence and stared vacantly into space as the woman sitting opposite her flipped through some papers attached to the clipboard she held. Her dazed mind couldn't focus very well since news of what was now being referred to as a terrorist attack on the Lily of the Valley Island, now cruelly dubbed 'The Valley of Death'.

How was she supposed to believe that her son, her dear, loving Ash Ketchum was responsible for killing one hundred thousand people? The other woman sighed and shook her head, causing her neat pale blue hair to whip around her face. "Look Mrs. Ketchum, the sooner you tell us more about your son, the sooner you can leave. Please, is there anything, anything at all that you can think of when you last saw Ash that could've given some indication about what he was planning?"

Delia snapped out of her daze and narrowed her eyes at police woman opposite her. She then spoke with the ferocity of a mother bear protecting her cub. "I will not tell you anything about my son because he is innocent; there is no way Ash would kill all those people and two of his closest friends like that! He has the gentlest soul I have ever witnessed and I consider myself blessed that I was the one to birth and raise him. That wasn't Ash on that podium that day, that was just some… devil who dared called himself an angel!" With a start Delia realized she was standing, her hands placed on the metal table between the women and her eyes glaring threateningly at the police officer.

Jenny spoke back calmly, years of training as a Police Officer had hardened her resolve, an angry mother bear was a common occurrence for her. "Mrs. Ketchum the man on the podium that day was definitely your son; he had Ash's PokéDex with him, he had the same height and weight as your son and the same Pokémon as your son. While I perfectly understand your reluctance to believe that Ash is a mass murderer, I'm afraid the evidence is simply undeniable."

Delia stared incredulously at the Policewoman. "How on earth could you possibly know that that man had the same height and weight as Ash? You'd have to measure and weigh both him and my son to come to that conclusion." Jenny grimaced; she had not meant to say that.

"Mrs. Ketchum, not many people know this, in fact this information is only known by police officers, Pokémon Centre staff, the Elite Four, the Regional Champions, the Regional Professors, the G-Men and the League Officials. Each PokéDex handed out to a Trainer has a built-in-body scanner that measures and weighs the Trainer, without their knowledge, each day and stores this information. When the device is handed to a Nurse Joy when a trainer signs up for a tournament or a contest, she transfers the latest measurements to the Centre Database, a network of information that can only be accessed by high-ranking police officers, the G-Men and of course Nurse Joy."

Jenny took a deep breath, trying to ignore Delia's steadily increasing anger.

"Now, every podium in a stadium or a contest has a similar scanner installed in it that is activated whenever someone steps on it. It stores the measurements of whoever happens to be standing on it and then sends the info to the Centre Database where it is linked to a corresponding set of measurements. Once this link is established the information about the Trainer is downloaded into the podium and the podium confirms that the person on the podium is indeed who the Database says it is. The whole process takes but a fraction of second to complete and once it has and the Trainer is confirmed, a bracelet worn by the referee begins flashing green thus signalliing the referee that the right people are in the right place. A message is sent from the podium to the Database as well to inform it of the results."

Delia frowned; the Regional Professors knew of this outrageous breach of privacy? She'd had to have a few stern words with Professor Oak when she got back home. "So this Database has confirmed that that man is my son? Have you seen the results yourself?" Jenny leaned back, wide-eyed and stuttering. "I- you see… well no… I haven't seen the results yet but I am sure that my colleagues would have informed me were they not satisfactory."

Delia bristled in anger at the officer's words. "Satisfactory? Proof that my son is a mass murderer is a source of satisfaction for you people?! You sit there and tell me that my son killed several thousand people and that that fact is irrefutable despite not even knowing what your outrageous breach of privacy Database has to say about it and expect me to cooperate with you by condemning my son?! If everyone had the same thoughts as you then no one would check the fucking thing, in fact I wouldn't be surprised if that was the case since you seem to be a pretty high-ranking officer and you're fucking incompetent!"

Delia very rarely swore, especially at others, but right now she was absolutely furious. "We're done here; go find some other mother to bother." With that Delia stood up despite the officer's protests and began to make her way around table and towards the door. However before she could open it the door swung open and was replaced by an imposing figure.

"Now now Mrs. Ketchum, there is no need for hostility." The figure smirked at Delia before he turned to the other woman present. "Officer Jenny you are dismissed, please excuse yourself." While he spoke to Jenny, Delia managed to get a good look at the man; he had bright red hair that matched the inside of his cape and the bands at his wrists and knees. The front of his outfit shared the same colour while his sleeves, trousers, boots and the outside of his cape were a pitch black colour.

His impressive height and strange clothing managed to somehow strike an intimidating cut, but Delia decided instantly that she did not like this man; she was certain his eyes had been roaming up and down her body as he walked into the interrogation room.

Delia was no idiot, she knew she was a very attractive woman, especially for her age; some of Ash's more perverted and obnoxious local 'friends', if one could call them that; after all Ash rarely consorted with unsavory types, had often remarked that she was a prime MILF when they thought she couldn't hear them. Whatever that meant, she was sure they weren't talking about how good of a cook she was.

Many men had checked her out and attempted to make a move on her before but despite not having seen Ash's father for almost twenty years and being quite sure that he was dead, she was still madly and hopelessly in love with the man and therefore never returned any affections shown towards her. She wasn't sure if she could ever care about another man as she did for her husband but she certainly hadn't found one yet. Besides, this man seemed far too full of himself for her tastes and she found him quite disgusting already.

Jenny raised an eyebrow. "I know who you are sir, but this a police investigation, I don't think you have the jurisdiction to take over it yourself." The man smirked and glanced quickly at Delia, or rather, two quite large assets of Delia's that he really had no business looking at. He quickly looked away before the owner of said assets could catch him peeking; though unknown to him he was already too late.

The man turned so that his back was facing the two women and cleared his throat; it was clear that this particularly fine specimen of a woman had no clue who he was, he sought to remedy that as soon as possible. "I am Lance Wilson, Champion of the Wataru Dragon Clan, strongest of the Kanto Elite Four, Regional Champion of Johto, Official Investigator of the Pokémon G-Men and the most powerful Dragon Tamer alive, but you may simply call me Lance. I must say I am honored to be in the presence of such a clearly magnificent woman like yourself Delia, if I may call you such."

He turned back to witness the reaction of the women, but was mightily disappointed when he saw that Jenny still had an incredulous look on her face and that Delia was yawning with her eyes such tight and her hand over her mouth. She then began to speak. "Well Lance, you may not call me as such, now could you please explain the purpose of your being here so that I can go home and watch the latest episode of Bruno's Shortcut to Six-Packs that I recorded earlier today."

That was a joke of course, but Lance didn't know that. She just said it because she knew that Bruno and Lance were seen as the most eligible bachelors of Kanto and that Lance had publicly displayed his dislike of Bruno before; probably because he wished he was the only top eligible bachelor. Jenny barked a laugh, though she was blushing quite heavily for some reason, and threw a thumbs-up in Delia's direction, who smirked back at her.

Lance's expression fell but he it seemed that he wouldn't go down without a fight, his smirk returned and with a hint of anger in his eyes he said "Well Mrs. Ketchum, you seem remarkably lively for a woman whose son has recently committed mass-murder, are you already looking for a new man with offspring for you to bear? If so I do hope you do a better job parenting your new child than you did with Ash, maybe your child wouldn't be kill several thousand people then." Both Delia and Jenny stood in shock as Lance chuckled at his own rude and rather hypocritical statement.

** xxxxxxxx**

Jenny glanced at Delia with sympathy; that was a remarkably unprofessional jibe at her and was totally uncalled for. Jenny too had seen Lance's not so subtle leers at Delia's voluptuous body, an act which she found as disgusting as she did offensive; what was she… a wooden plank? She glanced down and sighed; she might as well be, police training wasn't exactly devised to increase the allure of a woman. Not that she was at all interested in Lance; the man quite obviously had his stupidly bright red head wedged firmly up his arse and besides, what he had just said was a horrible thing to say to an obviously faithful and diligent mother such as Delia Ketchum.

The door opened again but this time another woman strode in, Jenny jumped in shock as she realized who the new arrival was; the woman was wearing polished black high-heels that were barely visible under the formal black trouser wear and long black coat that she wore about her skintight black top, only one stony grey eye was visible and her luscious blond hair that fell all the way down to her knees covered the other eye. In her hair she wore strange black clips that somewhat resembled the ears of a Lucario.

The woman glanced sympathetically at Delia; she had obviously heard what Lance had said, and nodded her head at Jenny, who returned the nod with a stunned expression.

She then turned towards Lance, who was quite flustered as he was now in the presence of two very gorgeous women. He quickly glanced at Jenny and gave her the same treatment that he gave Delia upon entering. Make that three. The new woman glared at Lance with such ferocity that he began to worry for his safety.

He spoke. "Cynthia, I-", "Lance, just shut up, you have just jeopardized the investigation with your ignorance and obnoxiousness and quite frankly, I'm not surprised. When I get the chance I will request a meeting with the rest of the Council to discuss your permanent removal from the Council and thus the G-Men. I suspect that the odds shall not be in your favour. Now get lost." She turned to the two women. "Officer, could you please escort Lance out of the station? Bruno will be waiting for him; he will take Lance back to the Plateau. I'm sure Lance would greatly appreciate Bruno's assistance."

Jenny barely contained the smirk that threatened to break out on her face as saluted the Sinnoh Champion. "Yes Ma'am, at once Ma'am." Cynthia grimaced, though her face somehow remained flawless and serene. "Please Officer, call me Cynthia, I'm not your boss and neither is Lance, so don't go easy on him if he causes any trouble. Oh and please come back when you're done, I wouldn't want to displace the officer in charge of this investigation now would I?"

** xxxxxxxx**

Cynthia turned to Delia as Jenny, now openly smirking, began to drag the spluttering Lance out of the room. Cynthia briefly wondered why Jenny seemed really excited about her new task but decided it was probably just the chance to humiliate an arrogant idiot. "Mrs. Ketchum, I am terribly sorry for Lance's attitude, he's always been a pain in the arse. I must apologise again as I really need to speak to you about your son. Do you mind?" Delia frowned and sighed. "Actually yes I do mind, but you seem a lot more professional than your colleague, if you can call him that, so I will help you." Cynthia smiled warmly. "Thank you Mrs. Ketchum, your cooperation means a lot to us. Please, have a seat."

Delia did so while Cynthia took the seat previously occupied by Jenny opposite of Delia. "I understand that you believe the man on the podium and your son is not the same person, this is correct?" Delia ignored the question and asked her own. "You have access to the Centre Database right? Could you show me the results of the podium that day? Officer Jenny hasn't checked them yet and I get the feeling that you haven't either."

Cynthia stared in astonishment before glancing at the door and sighing, she began muttering. "There's a reason that the Database isn't public knowledge." She glanced up towards Delia. "I do have access but I won't let you access it. I will check and inform you of the results later today. There's simply too much private information on that Database to show to someone who is not a Nurse Joy, an Officer Jenny or a G-Men Agent."

Delia sighed but grudgingly nodded her head. Cynthia smiled and began to talk.

"Now, did your son make many friends on his journey? Was he a well-liked individual or did he keep to himself?" Delia laughed. "Ash?! Many friends?! Did you not meet the man? Who doesn't like my son?" Cynthia smiled; she had met Ash before and he had certainly left an impression on her. She blushed slightly; perhaps a bit too much of an impression. Cynthia knew that she was far too old for Ash and she had no intention of getting romantically involved with him, but she could admire the handsome young man for he who he was. Cynthia continued to ask her questions.

"Who were Ash's closest friends? Where are they now? I would like to talk to them about Ash." Delia's smile faltered. "Ash's closest friend, in fact more of a brother, is dead. Brock Harrison, may he rest in peace, can't help you I'm afraid. The same goes for Dawn Berlitz, a sweet girl from Twinleaf in your home region. They were present at the stadium that day, cheering on who they thought was their close friend." Cynthia closed her eyes and muttered a quick prayer to Arceus; the pain they must've gone through as their friend ordered their brutal death…

She composed herself. "What of Ash's childhood friends? Who did he grow up with in Pallet Town?" Delia shook her head sadly; surprisingly Ash did not have many friends in Pallet Town. "Pallet Town is what some may call a backwards and superstitious community and many of its residents don't like others prying into their business. We're a cranky lot and unfortunately cranky people don't get along well with people like my son; his natural curiosity and concern for all things living, people and Pokémon alike, rubbed them the wrong way as they saw it as an invasion of their privacy. It was an unwritten rule in Pallet that everybody minded their own business and no trouble would be caused, Ash's stretching of that rule led many of his own age, and their parents, to distrust him, and of course, Gary Oak didn't help either."

Cynthia frowned; she had met Gary Oak, he was the grandson of the prestigious Professor Oak after all, and while he was a bit flirtatious and obnoxious (a lot like Lance really, just more successful in his attempts at wooing women, though Cynthia was unaffected; he was much too full of himself.) he seemed pretty harmless and actually quite a decent guy. She couldn't imagine Gary doing anything to cause Ash to struggle to make friends in their home town.

"Gary? What did he do? He seemed nice enough when I met him." Delia smiled. "Gary is a brilliant and mature young man, I don't approve of his disregard for monogamy, but his heart's in the right place. But he wasn't always so nice. When he and Ash were growing up, Gary made Ash's life a living hell; he bullied Ash in school and ran crying to the headmaster whenever Ash retaliated. I spent far too many a day in the headmaster's office having to scold my son for something that I knew wasn't his fault, it tore me up inside every time I did it but I always made it up to him by making his favourite food that night."

Delia paused and stared off into space with a bittersweet smile on her face as she reminisced on her son's childhood. Cynthia smiled; it was obvious that Ash and his mother had a great relationship with each other and that they loved each other dearly, watching Delia reflecting on the cherished times she shared with her son was a heartwarming sight to say the least.

Delia seemed to realise she had been spacing out and shook her head before she continued speaking. "Gary broke Ash's heart more than once as well; he always told any girl he knew Ash was interested in that Ash was a freak that would hurt them given the chance and they always believed him. A couple of times Gary even dated some of them and seeing his crushes going out with his enemy was harsh on Ash and ever since, he's always lacked his usual confidence when speaking to girls, especially those he was attracted to, he earned the nickname 'Awkward Ash' because of that."

Cynthia frowned once more; Gary sounded like an awful person. "But Gary began maturing when Ash beat him in the Silver Conference; he realized Ash was a stronger Trainer than him and after failing to get the attention of a certain red-head that accompanied Ash at the time, due to her interest in Ash, he also realized that Ash wasn't a loner anymore. My son had met and made so many friends on his journey that it wasn't right to call him 'Awkward Ash' anymore, though he still remained as oblivious as ever when it came to girls. The two quickly became close friends as it wasn't within my son to hold a grudge against a person; he is far too trusting and forgiving sometimes."

Cynthia took out a small notepad and pencil from somewhere in her coat and jotted down Gary's name, she then addressed Delia again. "Okay, so aside from Gary, who has known Ash the longest? What about this red-head you mentioned; she sounds close to Ash." Delia smiled softly. "Her name is Misty Waterflower and she might as well be my daughter. Never will you find a girl as sweet and as passionate as her."

Cynthia blinked in surprise. "Misty Waterflower? The Cerulean Gym Leader Misty Waterflower?" After Misty had left Ash to take care of her family's Gym she quickly gained a reputation as one of the toughest Gym Leaders in Kanto, eventually she was _the _toughest Gym Leader in Kanto, stronger even than Sabrina. Cynthia had watched a few of her battles and was very impressed with her immensely strong Pokémon, she reckoned that Misty's Gyarados and Golduck could probably take on one of her own Pokémon, not Garchomp or Spiritomb of course but probably any of the others.

Delia's expression fell. "Yes, but she's not doing too well at the moment; what she felt for Ash was far beyond just friendship. Recent events have been a huge shock to her and she's a bit unstable at the moment. She lost Brock, one of her closest friends, Brock might as well have been her older brother, and he was certainly more of a sibling to her than her pathetic sisters are. She believes she has also lost Ash, which is too much for her to cope with."

Cynthia, not noticing that Delia had become very quiet and that her shoulders were shaking, was confused. "What? If Ash is proven innocent then he will be free to do as he pleases, he wouldn't be gone, so why does Misty think he would be?" It was Delia's sniffles that finally caught Cynthia's attention. "Mrs. Ketchum? Are you alright?"

At this Delia's head snapped up and Cynthia was shocked at the amount of pain and sadness and even anger she saw in those eyes. "Why would Ash be gone?! You're a G-Men agent Cynthia! Surely you would know why Ash can never come back! Even if he were proven innocent how could he possibly live a normal life?! He would be a target, if not for the Government and the League, then by the common folk; Trainers, Coordinators, Rangers, Researchers, Watchers and Connoisseurs would all despise my son and how could they not? A man accused of rape would find it very hard to live an ordinary life even if he were proven innocent. It's the same thing with Ash. Besides, Ash was missing that day which means that the man on the podium has my son! What would a man like that do to my son?! Certainly never let him go! My son is probably as good as dead! Dead Cynthia! Dead!"

As Delia broke down weeping Cynthia sat in shock; she saw now the pain that Delia had been feeling since the attack. She saw the pain of a loving mother whose only child had been declared a mass murderer. She saw the pain of a loving mother who believed her only son was probably dead.

Delia, the pain of the past few days having finally caught up with her, sat in sadness and sorrow as her weeping died down to a pathetic whimpering. "I wish that I had at least been there with him, that he didn't have to die alone, cold and scared. I wish he was here in my arms as I listened to yet another adventure that he had experienced on one of his journeys."

Delia began to smile sadly, becoming lost in her fantasies. "I wish I could have seen the joy on his face when he watched the love of his life, Misty most probably, walk down the aisle all dressed in white. I wish I could see the excitement in his and Misty's faces when they told me that they were expecting. I wish I could share all the embarrassing stories of his childhood with his own children. I wish I could smile with pride as my grandchildren told me and Ash and Misty all about the snowman they had built that morning as we all sat around the dining room table, eating stuffed turkey on that cold Christmas day. I wish that when my time came, I could go peacefully knowing that I could finally tell my late husband about how our precious little baby boy had grown up to be a great man, one who had a loving family and many loving friends, who had two loving parents waiting for him up in heaven. Waiting to finally greet him and tell him how proud we were of him and how much we loved him."

Cynthia's throat ached and her eyes watered a bit; never had she witnessed such powerful love before, sure she had loving parents and grandparents, but they had their own life too, they had other things to love as well as her. It sounded to her that Delia had devoted her entire life to her son; that her only reason to living was to ensure that her son got all the love and care he could get from her.

Cynthia stood up, walked around the table and rested her hand on Delia's shaking shoulder. Both women remained still, one sitting the other standing, one shaking the other steady, one weeping the other supporting. Delia sniffed and wiped away her tears as she whispered her last wish. "Above all I wish my baby boy was home again."

* * *

**_Same location; same time_**

Jenny groaned and rubbed her temples as Lance began to, yet again, moan and whine about unfair Cynthia always was to him. Was this man really a Champion? He was pretty pathetic. The only reason she had accepted the task of escorting this bumbling idiot out of the station, besides her respect for the Sinnoh Champion, was because of who was waiting at the pickup destination. Although she had found Mrs. Ketchum's dig about Bruno at the Johto Champion very amusing, inwardly she had been blushing in extreme embarrassment because, unbeknownst to both Lance and Delia, the latter had described Jenny's favourite pastime that she always participated in on her few days off.

Unfortunately, because of where her mind had wandered off to, Jenny had developed a very prominent blush on her face and Lance, who had been prattling on about how the only reason Cynthia acted so untoward to him was because she was secretly harboring some sort of secret crush towards him, mistook Jenny's blush as something very different.

Jenny, who had since returned to her senses, noticed Lance had a god-awful smirk on his face as he leered down at her. "You should know Jen, no matter how attracted Cynthia is to me I won't ever give in to her advances; I will always be free for you." Lance winked at her and groped her butt before his gaze once again dropped lower until her face was definitely not the part of her body that Lance was looking at. It appeared chest size was of no concern to Lance; he seemed to accept all sizes.

Jenny felt like retching, Lance truly was a disgusting pig and his opinion of himself was far too bloated. Jenny smirked; she was keen to deflate that ego of his. "Lance if there is any hotshot League Trainer that I am willing to bed, it most certainly isn't you. Quite frankly you are a disgusting person and I really can't see why even the easiest woman on earth would want to sleep with you. So be a good boy and leave me alone so that Mr. Siba can take you home and tuck you into bed without any argument from me." Lance's smirk faltered briefly before returning tenfold. "Whatever babe, you know you want me, don't be so sore that you can't get me."

"Lance leave the poor lady alone, it's obvious that she wants nothing to do with you so just leave her be." Lance jumped slightly as Bruno's deep voice rang out. In his pestering of Jenny he had failed to notice that they had exited the station and were now standing in front of a beaten up old Beetle.

Bruno's voice had a very different effect on Jenny, whose knees trembled slightly and heart pumped furiously. Directly in front of her stood a mountain of a man whose immense muscles bulged under the black formal suit he wore. His face was scarred over years of the brutal training he put himself under, fighting onixes and sparring with his own ruthlessly powerful Pokémon. He had thick black eyebrows that accentuated his angular and somewhat stern features. His long and spiky raven hair was tied back in a ponytail that reached down to the middle of his back.

Seeing him not in his usual Karate outfit but rather in formal attire was a sexy sight for the police officer to behold. Years of his workout videos could not have prepared her for how massive this man truly was; he stood at 7 feet and his arms were as thick as those of his Machamp's. He made Lance seem a child in comparison, indeed Jenny herself reached only to his chest.

Bruno turned to Jenny and began smiling gently. "Pleased to make your acquaintance ma'am, Bruno Siba at your service, but please just call me Bruno. I hope Lance wasn't too much trouble for you, I'll be glad to take him off your hands either way."

Jenny, as red as her hair was blue, stuttered as she attempted to form a cohesive sentence in front of her crush. "M-Mr. Siba sir, I-I mean B-Bruno… S-sir. T-the pleasure's all mine." It really was; her neighbours had often complained about the noise she made whenever she was with her 'boyfriend', who they thought was called Bruno having heard his name yelled out many times. They said that they were glad she had a man that could please her so, but to please continue their activities quietly as they had kids that were trying to sleep. They didn't realise that she didn't have a boyfriend, or that the TV was on and showing a popular workout video.

Jenny composed herself somewhat; she was an officer of the law, not some horny schoolgirl. "Honestly Bruno, Lance is a pain in the arse and I would love it if you could take him away." And me as well, she thought giddily. Bruno barked a laugh and his smile widened. "I like you, you're not afraid to say what you want and I agree, Lance is a pain in the arse!"

Lance spluttered in outrage as Jenny flushed a bright pink; her mind going into overdrive at the prospect of Bruno liking her. Jenny decided to risk it and ask her crush out; when was she going to get another chance? "B-bruno, I-I was w-wondering i-if you'd like to go out for some coffee sometime?" Lance began laughing uncontrollably, disheartening Jenny as she began to lose what little confidence she had scraped together in order to ask Bruno out. Lance straightened and wiped a tear from his eye. "What was that?! Is that what you call asking someone out?! That was pathetic!" Jenny, her confidence now completely shattered, decided that it would be best if she left.

"Sorry Master Siba sir, I don't want to waste anymore of your time." With traces of tears in her eyes she turned and rapidly walked away. Bruno smacked Lance on the back the head, the force of the somewhat relaxed blow sending Lance to the floor, before turning and heading after Jenny. He grabbed her hand and spun her around. "Wait! Jenny!"

Jenny reeled back in shock, a warm feeling rising up in her stomach at hearing Bruno use her name. "I would love to go out with you, however I can't promise I would be a good boyfriend; I am one of the Elite Four after all, I have a very busy schedule" Jenny smiled brightly. "You'd be a great boyfriend! I can't believe you accepted! Here's my number, I'll be sure to call you soon."

Bruno took the piece of paper with a large smile on his face; this particular Jenny was very pretty after all, not that that was at all his sole reason for accepting her invitation, she seemed to be a very spirited and strong individual and Bruno admired strength of the soul above all in people. "I'm afraid we must part ways now Jenny, someone's got to look after that bumbling idiot. But I am looking forward to our next meeting, until then."

Before Bruno could depart Jenny grabbed his wrist and pulled him towards her and into a hug, surprising him with her strength. Bruno began to blush heavily as Jenny pressed her body tightly against Bruno's before grabbing his head and pulling it down to apply a chaste kiss upon his cheek. She let go, giving Bruno a coquettish smile before turning around and rushing back into the station. As Jenny reentered the station she squealed with joy, causing several people in the station to look at her strangely. She didn't care; she had the feeling that the neighbour's kids wouldn't be getting much sleep tonight.

** xxxxxxxx**

Lance was rubbing the back of his sore head and glaring at Bruno as the mountain of a man approached, returning the glare tenfold. "What is the matter you Lance? Being a pervert isn't enough for you is it? You have to be a huge twat as well. Jenny is a perfectly respectful woman and should be treated like one as well, so stop harassing her and at least try to act professional, although you clearly are not. Now come, let's get back to the Plateau, we have much to discuss."

Lance, bristling in anger, took one look at Bruno's beaten up old Beetle and snickered. "I wouldn't be seen dead in that piece of shit you call a car Bruno, Dragonite can take me there, and if you think Cynthia will succeed in getting me fired, you've got another thing coming." With that Lance grabbed a PokéBall from his belt and pressed the centre button to expand it before pressing it again to let the ball open and a large shapeless white light spring out of the contraption.

The white light formed a bipedal figure before fading so that the figure could be seen in its entirety. The creature was of a dull orange colour that covered most of his body and the outside of his wings. With three viciously sharp claws one each paw and foot, it had hard horizontal plated scales reaching from its neck all the way down its body, covering its chest and stomach, going in between his legs and coating the underside of his tail. Atop his head were a somewhat small horn in the center and two magnificent, sleek and streamlined curly horns situated above its eyes. Its massive wings, large enough to completely wrap around its body and then some, had dark green webbing coating the inside.

The dragonite roared powerfully and flexed its wings as Lance clambered up its body and settled on its shoulders just in front of its wings. He sneered at Bruno one last time before digging his heels in and yelling at Dragonite to fly. The dragonite spread its wings and lunged up into the air so suddenly that the force of its takeoff caused Bruno to take a step forward to balance himself. An ordinary man would have been floored.

Bruno shook his head and turned to his tiny car. He opened the door then attempted to slide into his seat, once settled in his knees were pressed up against the steering wheel and his head was forced down by the ceiling of the car. He turned on the engine, then pressed and held down the clutch and put the car into first before accelerating while slowly releasing the clutch; it was far too easy to stall this old car and he didn't want to look like an idiot in front of the station that his new girlfriend worked at.

As his car began chugging away down the road, he briefly saw what appeared to be a massive bright orange blur heading straight for Lance's shape in the sky. He shrugged, as much as he hated to admit it, Lance _was_ an incredibly powerful Trainer; he could handle anything thrown at him, besides an insult. What was the worst that could happen?

Lance's lifeless body smashed onto the front of his car causing it to come to a screeching halt and the windshield to crack. Bruno barely had time to react before Dragonite's body slammed down on Lance causing the sickening sound of bones snapping and the horrible sight of blood spraying out from under the beast.


	2. Chapter 2: Ray Of Hope

**Hello again, I will apologise taking such a long time to publish this chapter, but I must warn you that this should be expected from now on. I am studying Chemical Engineering so I really don't have a lot of free time, especially with Test Week coming up, so please don't expect another chapter until at least next month.**

**I hope this hasn't turned you away from my story.**

**Just a note; in this chapter I have refered to Brock and Iris as black people. I am aware that in various countries this term isn't considered politically correct, but here in South Africa it is considered so and is most certainly _not_ a racist term.**

**You may notice that some Pokémon may be referred to without a capital letter, this is because I believe that when talking about Pokémon in general, one would refer to them as we refer to animals. You wouldn't write, "That is a Giraffe" but rather "That is a giraffe". However when refering directly to a specific Pokémon I will use capital letters. e.g: "What's wrong with Pikachu?"**

**A large space two paragraphs means that the setting has changed, either to a different character or location or time, etc.  
However a series of x's separating two paragraphs means that it is still in the same setting, but the point of view has changed to someone else in that setting. **

**Please read and constructively criticize, is the violence too much? Is the story too uneven and disorganized? Are the chapters too long? Comment on problems you find. Thank you.**

**Flames will be ignored.**

**I don't own Pokémon.**

* * *

**Chapter 1: Ray Of Hope**

**_Viridian City Police Station; 01/04/2013_**

Jenny's jovial mood had somewhat lessened as she walked back to the interrogation room; after all the inquisition of a woman whose only son had allegedly killed thousands of people was nothing to be joyful about. She paused outside the door to straighten her hair and clothes; she didn't want to appear unprofessional to the Champion of Sinnoh.

When she entered the room she was greeted by a depressing sight. Delia had her head in her hands and was obviously crying, while Cynthia had a sorrowful expression on her face as she gently rubbed Delia's back soothingly.

Noticing the new arrival the two women composed themselves; Cynthia bent down and whispered into Mrs. Ketchum's ear. "I promise you Delia, I promise you I'll find the man who did this to your son, but meanwhile you mustn't lose hope; Ash could still be out there somewhere, waiting for someone to find him and take him home." Delia sniffled, rubbed her nose and sent Cynthia a weak but grateful smile.

Jenny decided not to watch, it was obviously a personal matter between the two women and she didn't want to intrude. She couldn't help but overhear Cynthia's promise though. She raised an eyebrow curiously; it seemed the Champion also believed Ash was innocent, if so then Delia and her son had one of the most powerful allies they could possibly get.

Cynthia Lawson was absolutely legendary when it came to Pokémon battling; it was rumoured that once Alder and Steven teamed up and faced her in double battle as a bet, apparently only three of Cynthia's Pokémon fainted. Most people generally regarded it as fact after Cynthia's famous battle with Lance a few years ago. Lance had put up a good fight; he was the world's greatest Dragon Tamer after all, but then Cynthia released her Garchomp. The beast defeated Lance's strongest dragonite and the only damage it received was a graze by a Hyper Beam. Ever since that spectacular battle Cynthia was unofficially labeled as the most powerful Pokémon Trainer currently living, aside from Kanto Champion and Pokémon Master, Red, of course, but he hadn't been seen in almost twenty years.

Most of today's Trainers had never seen Red battle and therefore believed all the stories about him to be largely exaggerated. But Jenny was one of the few who had seen him battle; she had been ten at the time. She had been present at what was now often referred to as 'The Great Slaughter'; an epic battle between all of the other nation's Champions and the Kanto Champion, Red himself.

Each of the then four Champions had sent out their strongest Pokémon; Agatha, who was Johto's Champion at the time, had sent out her Gengar, Hoenn's Drake had sent out his Salamence, Sinnoh's Bertha had sent out her Rhyperior and Unova's Alder had sent out his legendary Volcarona. Jenny, along with everyone else at the stadium, had been absolutely shocked when Red sent out not four Pokémon to counter his four opponents, but only one; his absolutely massive Charizard.

But what was most shocking to the spectators was the fact that Red's Charizard looked different to ordinary charizards; its wings were more angular, serrated and streamlined and the blue webbing appeared tattered. The two horns upon its head were still present but they were brutally sharp and a third larger horn was situated between the original two. It appeared to have two smaller wings upon its forearms, no doubt to increase its already incredible speed. And lastly its tail had a sharp protrusion at the base and number of spikes leading up to the burning end of the tail.

What followed was what Jenny could only describe as massacre of the other Champions' Pokémon. Red's Charizard had torn of all six of Volcarona's wings off, Gengar had literally been evaporated, Rhyperior was missing several of its chest plates along with its horn and tail; all having been severed by Charizard's Slash and Steel Wing attacks. Lastly, Salamence had been missing both of its wings and one eye.

The Champions, shocked by Charizard's strength and brutality, had immediately forfeited the match before rushing their Pokémon to the Centre, but what was most shocking about the whole event was that apparently Charizard wasn't even Red's strongest Pokémon; that title lay with the creature that was ever-present on Red's shoulder. A Pikachu that no one had ever seen in battle except for a few Gym Leaders and the previous Pokémon Master, who had lost a Pokémon in that battle.

When asked why he never used Pikachu in battle, Red replied that he didn't want the burden of another dead Pokémon on his or Pikachu's hands. As for why Red never had his training license revoked and wasn't imprisoned for killing a Pokémon; the previous Pokémon Master maintained that it was his own fault that his Pokémon died, he said that in his blind refusal to lose his title he had not noticed that his Pokémon was grievously wounded. Red had been about to forfeit the match for fear that Pikachu would kill the Master's ace, but then the Master had ordered his Pokémon to use Explosion.

The Pokémon Master's Pokémon, too tired to conjure up the standard aura shield that usually wrapped the Pokémon in a protective shell that would prevent it from literally exploding, literally exploded... It was said that after the cloud of dust and blood mist had cleared, there wasn't much left aside from a rocky heart and a fleshy eye. Perhaps the most disturbing part of it all was that the Champion's ace was a Golem, a semi-ground type and immune to electricity.

So despite the fact that so many modern Trainers claimed that today's Champions like Cynthia and Lance could thrash the mysterious and elusive Kanto Champion and Pokémon Master, Jenny knew the real truth, that Master Red was by far the most powerful Pokémon Trainer that had ever lived. She knew that neither Cynthia nor Lance would stand a chance against the Champion of Kanto. How his Pokémon had gotten so powerful was one of the biggest mysteries of the modern world, rivaled in speculation only by his disappearance.

Jenny realized with a start that Cynthia was asking her a question. She blushed in embarrassment. "I-I'm sorry Cynthia, could you repeat that?" Cynthia smiled gently at her, easing her nerves. "I was just asking if you could fetch Mrs. Ketchum and I some tissues; we can't have a civil conversation with runny noses now can we?" Jenny grinned as she pulled out some tissues from her breast pocket; as Chief Investigator she often had to deal with very emotional people, be it a witness, suspect or a tearful young Trainer who couldn't find their Pokémon, so she always had a few spare tissues on her person.

She handed the tissues to the two women who then proceeded to wipe their eyes and blow their noses. Cynthia once again turned to Jenny. "To bring you up to speed, Mrs. Ketchum and I were discussing her son's childhood and listing any close friends of his who could help us with any information about the man at all. So far only Misty Waterflower of Cerulean City and Gary Oak of Pallet Town were mentioned."

Cynthia turned back to Delia. "Ash travelled Johto, Hoenn and Unova did he not? Who travelled with him during those journeys?" Delia, now composed, decided to help Cynthia as much as she could.

"Misty continued traveling with Ash during his trip around the Orange Archipelago, Brock had temporarily left but the two met a Pokémon Watcher by the name Tracey Sketchit during their trip. Ash and Tracey became very close during their trip together and he could certainly help with any questions you may have. Currently he resides in Professor Oak's Lab in Pallet with Gary, but if he's not there you might find him at Misty's house in Cerulean."

Cynthia raised an eyebrow. "I thought you said Misty cared for Ash? Did she get fed up of waiting?" Delia chuckled. "No no not at all, I don't think Misty will ever give up on Ash." Delia's smile turned upside down. "But now she won't ever be able to tell him how she feels…"

Delia sighed and decided to focus on helping Cynthia before she began crying again. "No, Tracey wasn't dating Misty but rather her eldest sister Daisy. Daisy hardly knows Ash so she wouldn't be able to help you. As for Ash's other journeys, Brock returned after the Orange Archipelago trip and Tracey decided to stay in Pallet and study with Professor Oak. Ash travelled around Johto with both Brock and Misty, but after the Silver Conference both Misty and Brock were forced to return to their homes in Cerulean City and Pewter City respectively. Their leaving hurt Ash deeply but I think Misty was hurt the most; by that stage her little 'crush' on Ash had begun to develop into something a little more permanent."

Cynthia chuckled before asking curiously. "You seem to know a lot about Misty and Ash's relationship during their journey, how come?" Delia smiled widely at this. "I could tell from the moment Misty walked through my front door that she was attracted to my son, hell everybody could see it except for my son, perhaps he was too blinded by his own affections for the red headed girl." Delia sighed; it seemed that Ash inherited his obliviousness towards romance from his father. Delia smiled wistfully as she recalled the trouble she went through trying to get Ash's father's attention.

Cynthia, while finding Delia's reflecting heartwarming, interrupted the woman's daydreams as she asked her next question, "So Ash traveled around Hoenn alone then?" Delia once again sighed. "No, in fact on his first day he made a new travelling companion; a beautiful young girl named May Maple, you may have heard of her; I hear she's quite a successful Pokémon Coordinator now." Cynthia nodded; she had.

Delia continued, "Ash and May made their way back to May's hometown, Petalburg City, where I believe she is currently residing. Ash met with May's parents and little brother, and he learnt that May's dad, Norman, was the Gym Leader of the city, he still is I think. Ash set off with both May and her brother, Max, and was shortly reunited with Brock. Together the four journeyed around Hoenn before returning back to Kanto to take part in the Battle Frontier."

"As you already know Ash travelled around Sinnoh with Brock and Dawn but at the end of that journey Brock left permanently. Ash traveled to Unova alone but once again not for long; he met a black woman around his own age by the name of Iris and shortly afterwards was joined by one of Striaton City's Gym Leaders, Cilan. He traveled Unova with those two before coming home and taking a year break, he then decided to re-travel Sinnoh as he felt that was where he was strongest, I think he was also most missing Dawn's perkiness after Iris' constant nagging."

Cynthia raised an eye as a thought occurred to her, "Wait, so Misty traveled with Ash through Kanto, Johto and the Orange Archipelago?" Delia nodded, confused as to why she was being asked again. "Then he traveled through Hoenn, Sinnoh and Unova with May, Dawn and Iris respectively?" Delia again nodded with a growing grin on her face; she thought she knew where this was heading now.

"Mrs. Ketchum perhaps your son isn't as oblivious as you think he is. He seems to have more female friends than male." Delia's grin was now spreading across her face. "I thought so too at first, and all these beautiful young women were certainly interested in my son at some point on their journeys, interest reciprocated I believe; Ash would have to be made of stone lot to be attracted to these women after journeying with them. But it was never more than interest, well it wasn't for May and Dawn anyway. Misty was definitely more than just interested and Iris was a bit infatuated I think.

Delia maintained her smile. "Ash's obliviousness became even more apparent however as I watched all these girls continue to make a move on my son and fail spectacularly. Only Misty never truly gave up; I think Iris really cared for Ash but Misty really did love him a lot and I think that deep down, Ash loved her just as much as well." Delia sniffled; her baby boy would probably never be able to tell Misty his feelings now.

Jenny saw Delia had begun crying again and she wordlessly handed her another tissue while Cynthia remained silent letting Delia compose herself. The auburn haired mother did so and continued to talk, "Anyway Ash just kept on being his usual self, thinking every attempt at gaining his affections was just a friendly interaction. It's such a shame since Ash is such a charming gentleman and yet he isn't even trying to charm anyone, he's just being friendly and honest; if he thought a girl was beautiful he would tell her. He doesn't realise that comes across as flirting."

Cynthia blushed; Ash certainly was charming, she'd experienced that firsthand when Ash had re-travelled Sinnoh and met up with her in Celestic Town. Delia noticed Cynthia's flushing cheeks and grinned cheekily at her. "You see what I mean, and you're closer to my age than his!" Cynthia's blush deepened considerably as Delia giggled and Jenny's eyes widened in shock.

Cynthia, very red and embarrassed now, coughed and tried to dispel her blush with another question, "This Iris, is she a Dragon Trainer? Big purple hair? Quite hot-tempered?" Delia glanced curiously at Cynthia, "Yes, how did you know?" Cynthia smiled, "Well it turns out that Iris is Alder's newest protégé, and Alder himself has told me that he plans to train Iris to be the next Champion of Unova."

Delia beamed, "Really? That's great news, that'll be two Champions interested in my son!" she teased, delighting as Cynthia's blush returned with vengeance. Cynthia, deciding not to retort, turned to the gaping Jenny. "Officer Jenny, could you contact Cerulean City, Petalburg City and Striaton City Stations and ask them to bring in Misty, May, Max and Cilan? Oh, and if Tracey is in Cerulean tell them to bring him in as well. I'll call Alder myself and ask for Iris."

Jenny nodded and stood up and then left the room to do ask Cynthia had asked. Cynthia turned back to Delia, "Well Mrs. Ketchum thank you very much for being so patient with us and answering my questions, however I must ask one thing more of you. Can you please come in the same time tomorrow? Hopefully all of Ash's friends will be here and I would like you to be present when we begin interrogating them."

Delia sighed but nodded, "Alright Cynthia, I'll come in, but only if you're the one asking questions, I don't want anything more to do with Lance." Cynthia giggled before her phone started to ring; she fished it out of her coat and saw the caller ID… Bruno? Rarely did other G-Men members call her directly on her cellphone. She accepted the call and brought the phone up to her ear. "Bruno, what's wrong?"

**xxxxxxxx**

Delia became alert when Cynthia gasped and her face was drained of all colour. Cynthia's next words confirmed to Delia that something terrible had just happened. "Are you alright Bruno? Were you injured?"… "An orange blur? Could it be a Pokémon? You think it was a charizard?"… "Its wings had been torn off?! What on earth could tear off a dragonite's wings?!" That last sentence really alarmed Delia, what the hell was wrong?

Cynthia's face remained stony as she continued to listen to Bruno's rushed voice. "Have you contacted the League yet?"… "They're on their way?"… "…Do you think it was the Colossus?"…"Okay Bruno, tell the Council that I will be staying in Viridian for the time being."…"I'll be fine Bruno, I get the feeling Lance was a warning, not a threat."…"Okay bye."

Cynthia hung up and stood up quickly. "Mrs. Ketchum I think I will escort you back to Pallet Town, I need to speak with Professor Oak as soon as possible." Delia, very worried now, asked "Wait Cynthia what's wrong? What's happened? And what's the Colossus?" Cynthia sighed. "Lance has been murdered and Bruno reckons it was a charizard. It killed both Lance and Dragonite in a matter of minutes. "Bruno thinks it was the Colossus, which is the G-Men codename for As- …I mean the man on the podium."

Delia went pale; she had been speaking with Lance not 15 minutes ago! He was the Johto Champion for Arceus' sake! What charizard could possibly defeat Lance's strongest Pokémon so quickly?! Unless… Delia felt nauseous as the gravity of what she was thinking hit her.

Cynthia sighed; she saw that Delia had reached the same conclusion that Bruno had: that only one person had a charizard that strong... Master Red… Cynthia resumed talking "That's why I need to see Professor Oak, it is my understanding that Red is from Pallet Town right?" Delia nodded warily. "Well then Professor Oak must be the one that keeps his Pokémon and changes them when the need arises." Delia sighed and shook her head slowly. Cynthia, confused by Delia's solemn reaction, voiced her confusion, "What's wrong Delia?"

Delia replied sadly, "Not many people know this but Red has only six Pokémon, so he never has to trade any Pokémon out, Professor Oak doesn't keep any of his Pokémon at his lab." Cynthia sighed in frustration "Nevertheless, Professor Oak must have some useful information on him so I'll go with you anyway" Delia nodded and stood up to leave with Cynthia following closely behind.

The two headed out of the station and got into Delia's little hatchback before heading off for the hour drive to Pallet Town.

**_Same location; same day; three hours later_**

Bruno had known he was in trouble as soon as he saw the quietly furious faces of the G-Men Council. He had never gotten along too well with them as they felt his interests clashed with those of the G-Men. The G-Men believed in preventing crime syndicates and thwarting rising warlords and terrorists at any cost, but Bruno believed that nothing was worth the cost of even one innocent life. The G-Men thought Bruno too noble and unwilling to do the dirty work that was often required of a G-Man and as such, had never trusted him. Bruno had always thought that the Council would jump at the earliest opportunity to take him down, and he had not been wrong.

The Council had expelled him. They had managed to get the League to revoke his Elite Four status and then they informed him that he was no longer welcome at the Plateau, effectively kicking him out of his home. And then they had him arrested under suspicion of conspiring with Ash Ketchum to kill the Johto Champion.

Which is how Jenny found him back at the Viridian Station, in handcuffs and an orange jumpsuit far too small for him, he could probably tear his clothes just by flexing, not that she would have minded. Fortunately for both her and Bruno, she hadn't yet informed her superiors of her new relationship with their newest yet-to-be-convicted criminal and because she had an excellent track record she was personally selected by the G-Men Council to question him on his affiliation with Ash.

She knew the supposed affiliation wasn't true of course; it was just another example of today's flawed system. It was relatively common knowledge that the G-Men Council disliked Bruno and so Jenny drew her own, and quite accurate, assumptions of why her new boyfriend was sitting handcuffed in front of her. Luckily, as the G-Men was such a powerful leading political and economic association, any police officer chosen by them to conduct a private investigation effectively had the power of the judge and jury, so after a few questions she had the power to acquit Bruno of his charges immediately.

Jenny sighed nervously; she had to question Bruno of course, her job was on the line. "M-Mr. Siba sir, I-I don't really w-want to do this, b-but I kind of have to…" Bruno smiled that rare and yet so charming smile at her and she practically melted in her seat. "No worries ma'am, I understand, let's just get this out of the way shall we?" Jenny nodded, composed herself, and switched on the camera and video recorder.

"Mr. Siba, you left this station at roughly 2'O'clock this afternoon with instructions to escort Lance Wilson back to the Plateau, correct?" Bruno nodded, "Who instructed you to do so?" Bruno leaned forward to speak into the microphone placed on the table between them, "Cynthia Lawson, the Champion of Sinnoh and Sinnoh representative of the G-Men Council."

Jenny continued, "Do you have any reason to believe that Miss Lawson knew that Mr. Wilson would be targeted by Ash Ketchum?" Bruno shook his head "No."  
Jenny grimaced slightly at her next question, "So you conspired alone with Ash Ketchum?"

Bruno leaned forward again, "No, I did not conspire with Ash Ketchum and I had no intention of murdering Mr. Wilson." Jenny put down her list of questions before leaning back, "Mr. Siba I would like you to describe what happened after Mr. Wilson was escorted to you."

Bruno smiled slyly, "Well first I got the number of a beautiful woman and I was very excited for what the future held for me." Jenny blushed heavily at what Bruno was implying, but gestured for Bruno to continue.

"I told Mr. Wilson to get into my car and he told me that he would ride his dragonite back to the Plateau. I saw no harm in letting him do so and so I did. I entered my car and had just started the long drive back to the Plateau when I saw a massive orange blur head straight for Mr. Wilson's position. I was confident that Mr. Wilson would be able to handle whatever it was if it posed a threat to him. A couple of minutes later Mr. Wilson's body slammed onto my car followed by his dragonite, I am unsure whether he was alive before the impact, but he definitely wasn't after it. His dragonite had has its wings removed causing me to wonder what charizard, which I could see it was now after watching it fly away, could possibly have done this. Dragonite actually survived the ordeal and is currently resting in Viridian PokéCentre with many grievous wounds."

Jenny sat in shock and concern; she hadn't realized how close her new boyfriend had been to whole incident. She composed herself before gesturing to a folder placed upon the table between them. "Nurse Joy's report on Dragonite states that what remains of Dragonite's wings aren't cleanly severed stumps but rather stretched and frayed tendons protruding out of his back. She says that whatever Pokémon did this to Dragonite hadn't used a Slash or a similar slicing attack to sever the wings, but instead used brute force to rip the wings out of his back. There are two large bruises situated between where his wings were that are shaped as a charizard's footprints, Joy believes that a charizard had placed its feet there and then grabbed Dragonite's wings with its claws before pushing with its feet and pulling with its hands, thus pulling the wings out of Dragonite's back. Unfortunately the regenerative tissue was also pulled out… Dragonite's wings will not grow back and he will never be able to fly again."

Bruno's expression fell, to see such a powerful Pokémon so restricted was a tragic sight indeed, but what was most frightening is the ease that this charizard had pulled this off with. In all his life he had only seen one charizard that could possibly have the power to do this, the one responsible for 'The Great Slaughter' twenty five years ago. He had informed Cynthia of his suspicions which was why she was on her way to Professor Oak's lab with Ketchum's mother.

Jenny then resumed with her questions, "Exactly where were you when the incident happened?" Bruno answered, "I was driving past the Viridian Gym."  
Jenny raised an eyebrow, "Viridian Gym? Hmmm… Very interesting…"

**Xxxxxxxx**

Bruno was confused, "…What?" he said smartly, but instead of answering Jenny just smiled sweetly at him, "Bruno Siba it is my professional opinion that you did not conspire with Ash Ketchum to assassinate Lance Wilson and therefore you are free to go." She stood up and turned off the camera before gathering all her files and asking Bruno to follow her.

"Mr. Siba may I ask you to accompany me to the Viridian Gym?" They were still in the station so she had to keep up appearances to avoid a superior officer discovering her affiliation with Bruno. Bruno grinned cheekily, "With pleasure Officer Jenny." Jenny blushed but quickly fought it down, she had a job to do and she was damn good at it, she couldn't let herself be distracted by Bruno.

"Why are we going to the Gym?" Bruno asked. Jenny told Bruno what was on her mind. "Well after I called all of Ash's surviving friends Cynthia told me of your suspicions that Dragonite's charizard must have been Red's Charizard. Not many people know this but the Viridian Gym Leader used to be Red's rival when they were younger. In fact Blue, the Viridian Gym Leader, had been Kanto's Champion for a couple of days before Red came along and took the title from him. They had always disliked each other but that whole event caused them to despise each other. Nobody really knows why they hated each other so much in the first place though some say that there was a girl involved and it was jealousy that caused the spite."

"Anyway since Lance was killed right outside Blue's gym by what we assume to be Red's Charizard, I'm thinking that maybe this isn't a message to the G-Men but rather a message to Blue, some kind of warning or threat." Bruno was impressed; his girlfriend was very good at her job it seemed, he of course had known about Blue's temporary reign as Kanto's Champion and his usurping by Red, Bruno himself had been a candidate for a new Elite Four at the time, hoping to replace Professor Blaine. But he hadn't expected Jenny to know so much about it.

As they left the station and made their way to the Gym Bruno was about to Jenny another question when he noticed she was on her phone. Judging by Jenny's expression it wasn't a particularly pleasant conversation.

**xxxxxxxx**

Jenny hung up and sighed. "That was Joy, Dragonite's in a stable condition but he hasn't awoken yet… I'm not really looking forward to when he does…" Bruno agreed solemnly. Jenny turned to Bruno, "You must have experience with all of this, what's to become of Dragonite?" Jenny asked with trepidation. Bruno sighed, "When he regains consciousness Nurse Joy will ask if he would like to be put down by lethal injection or to go and die by honourable combat, if he chooses the latter he will be sent Mt. Silver, where the wild Pokémon are as strong as any Elite's trained Pokémon."

Jenny sighed, "And Lance's other Pokémon?" she asked, "Set free, a few of them will probably approach another Elite and ask to be theirs, the ones that don't usually end up on Mt. Silver anyway, hence why the wild Pokémon there are so strong. Mt Silver is essentially an Elite Graveyard; all the Pokémon that live there are ex-Elite Pokémon" Bruno replied.

Jenny asked her next question, "Why do the G-Men call the man on the podium 'the Colossus'?" Bruno replied, "Well the G-Men use a ranking system to rate the strength of a Trainer's Pokémon. The strongest rank is Rank Omega but it is often called the Legendary Rank, that rank is reserved for Pokémon with the power of a Legendary. The next strongest rank is the Alpha Rank, otherwise known as the Colossal Rank. Lance's Dragonite and Cynthia's Garchomp are considered Beta Rank Pokémon, the rank below Alpha, and there has only ever been one Trainer with Alpha Pokémon." That Trainer, of course, was Red.

"Anyway, after reviewing the footage of the explosion the G-Men Council concluded that the Pokémon of the man on the podium must have been Alpha Rank and therefore of Colossal Strength, they hence decided that he be given the codename 'Colossus'."

Jenny allowed Bruno to recover his breath before she tentatively asked her next question, "…Do you think that… the Colossus… was Ash?" Bruno looked at her incredulously, "Jenny have you ever met Ash?" She was taken aback by the slightly disappointed tone of Bruno's voice, "Well… yeah… back when he was 13 and he had just started his journey, he came into town scorched, bleeding and terrified, cradling a weak Pikachu and desperate to get him to the Pokémon Centre. I actually gave him a lift." Bruno nodded and asked, "And why did you help him?" Jenny sighed, "He looked so scared and lost and I could see he was distraught over whatever had happened to his Pikachu. I felt that the least I could do was help him."

"And do you think that the boy you met 7 years ago is capable of killing a hundred thousand innocent people?" Bruno asked with a gentle smile on his lips, Jenny sighed and shook her head, "No… he wasn't." Bruno smiled widely, "Good, I'm glad to see that you're a good judge of character. I myself met him while training at Mt. Hideaway, he was so determined to be the best, but not at the cost of his Pokémon's health or his friend's happiness. If ever there was a child that was raised perfectly, then that child would have been him, I would very much like to meet his mother."

Jenny was surprised, and slightly jealous; it seemed that Bruno had an incredibly high opinion of both Delia and Ash, but she really hoped that Bruno would never meet former as she could tell that Delia was a formidable woman and from what she had gathered so far, Bruno seemed to be attracted to the formidable type.

"So who do think the Colossus was?" Jenny asked. Bruno's smile fell and he answered with another question, "Jenny, have you ever seen Red before?" Jenny nodded, "Yeah I saw him at 'The Great Slaughter' ages ago."

"And how did he look?" Bruno asked.

"Well he had spiky black hair and he always wore a red cap and he always had his… Pikachu by… his side." Jenny trailed off.

Bruno nodded when he saw the look of realisation pass across Jenny's face, "He looked a lot like Ash didn't he." It wasn't a question, it was a statement. Jenny nodded numbly; she couldn't believe she hadn't seen it before. All of a sudden she felt very scared; it was bad enough that they suspected Red killed Lance but the possibility that the Pokémon Master was responsible for the 'Valley of Death' was truly horrifying.

Jenny voiced her fears to Bruno, "How can we stop Red? His Pokémon are almost Legendary strength!" Bruno smiled, "Exactly, _almost_ Legendary strength, meaning that there are Pokémon out there that are stronger than them. We just have to convince them to help us." Jenny stared at him incredulously, "So your plan is to recruit Legendary Pokémon? Well that's great, let's just ask the most powerful beings on the planet to help us humans to save our own kind, I'm sure they'll listen to us." She said sarcastically. Bruno, somehow missing the sarcasm, smiled broadly and nodded, "Exactly, we can't fail with them on our side."

Jenny stared at him before shaking her head and muttering to herself. "Great, your boyfriend is a crazy, unemployed idiot who doesn't get sarcasm, good job Jenny, you really know how to pull in the insane ones." She looked up and realized that they had reached the entrance to the Viridian Gym. She shared a glance with Bruno before they both walked up the stairs to the door. The two guards ignored them as they pushed through and entered a darkened battlefield.

A light flickered on at the opposite end of the battlefield and they saw a tall imposing man. He wore a very formal business shirt with a red tie underneath a green waistcoat. Over all of this he wore an orange blazer that matched his orange trousers. His dark brown hair was slicked back and he wore an ominous smirk upon his face.

He stepped forward, "Ah, Officer Jenny and Mr. Siba, to what do I owe the pleasure of a Police Officer and an Elite in my Gym?"

Jenny noted that the man had called Bruno an Elite, it seemed that the G-Men hadn't yet let the world know what happened to Lance and why the Master Fighting-type Trainer was expelled, but it mattered not. Jenny stepped forward and began to speak, "Mr. Siba is aiding me in an investigation that has brought us here and we have a few questions regarding the Kanto Champion and Pokémon Master Red, whom we know is an acquaintance of yours Mr. Giovanni… or should I say… Blue…"

Blue chuckled as he made his way towards the couple, "It has been a long time since anybody called me by that name Officer, I of course will help you to the best of my ability." It was only when Blue was standing right in front of them that she realized how big he was, he was still tiny compared to Bruno but he was at least six feet tall and he had very broad shoulders. Jenny realized with start that he was very familiar looking, but she couldn't for the life of her remember who Blue reminded her of.

Blue extended his hand to the two and they both shook it politely, he then spoke, "How about we retire to my office before we begin with the questions?" Jenny nodded and spoke, "Lead the way Mr. Giovanni."

**_Professor Oak's Lab; Pallet Town; 01/04/2013:_**

Gary Oak was sitting at the kitchen table staring solemnly out the window at all the Pokémon frolicking around. Most of them were either his or Ash's he realized as he watched Bulbasaur fend off a hungry Heracross with his vines. He saw Gible biting Sceptile's head, blinding him while Squirtle used Rapid Spin on his legs, causing him to fall down suddenly. He saw Staraptor sparring with the Shiny Noctowl and Totodile dancing around Quilava trying to agitate him. He saw the herd of Taurus charging around, almost trampling Glalie who was just floating by.

Gary was both heartened and saddened as he watched his ex-rival's Pokémon enjoy themselves, they were incredible specimens; so powerful and yet so happy and playful, a combination which was all too rare in owned Pokémon, and they were powerful indeed. Although Ash had struggled through Unova, both his own skill and his Pokémon's power seemingly increased tenfold on his re-run through the cold northern region of Sinnoh, thus he breezed through most of the combatants at the Lily of the Valley Conference without much trouble. Gary figured that after the Conference Ash would have gone on to challenge an Elite Four whatever the outcome of his match against Paul. Well… any outcome except the one that happened at least…

Gary was deeply affected what had happened as, despite his initial rivalry with the immature raven-haired boy, Gary had grown to respect the formidable man that Ash had become. Gary knew that Ash was the best friend he ever had; he also knew that he didn't deserve Ash, as a friend or indeed as an opponent. He held deep resentment for his younger, foolish self and although Ash had forgiven him, Gary had yet to forgive himself.

He continued to watch his best friend's Pokémon as he tried to think of how he was to break the news of Ash's probable fate to his Pokémon. They believed he was still out in the wilderness somewhere; traveling, training and catching Pokémon.

Gary's thoughts were interrupted by a knock on the door and he breathed a sigh of relief; any distraction was welcome right now. He slowly stood up and headed towards the entrance of his grandfather's Lab to answer the door. He gazed through the peephole and saw the beautiful Sinnoh Champion standing at his grandfather's threshold. He wasn't all that surprised that Cynthia was in Pallet Town; he had figured he would soon be getting a visit from a G-Men official regarding Ash.

**xxxxxxxx**

Gary Oak opened the door, stepped out and extended his hand in greeting to the beautiful blonde, "Good Afternoon Miss Lawson, what can I do for you today?" Cynthia warily gripped his hand and shook; the last time she had grabbed his hand he had brought her hand to his lips in an attempt to woo her, but she figured he was probably a bit pre-occupied to attempt to flirt right now.

She started to speak, "Hello Mr. Oak is your grandfather in today? I need to speak to him about the Kanto Champion and… " She trailed off when she noticed that a look of shock and excitement had dawned across the young researcher's face.

"I'm very sorry Miss Lawson but I need to check on something quickly, please come in and make yourself at home" he said very quickly out before rushing back inside and towards the Corral.

Cynthia, quite curious now, decided to follow him. As she stepped outside she saw Gary heading towards a floating white Pokémon. She approached him and asked, "What's wrong with that Glalie?"

Gary turned around and Cynthia saw that he had a broad smile on his face. "Nothing is wrong with it, it just happens to be Ash's Glalie!" He stated as his smile grew even larger.

Cynthia gasped, "Are you sure? This Glalie is Ash's?!" Gary nodded happily, "This should be proof enough that it wasn't Ash right? I mean that's why you're here isn't it?" he said hopefully.

"Well it won't quite acquit Ash of all his charges but it will certainly help in the long run, but no, that's not actually why I'm here." Gary's smile drooped slightly before he asked, "Well then, what can I do for you Miss Lawson?"

Although Cynthia was looking for his grandfather decided to go ahead ask Gary her questions anyway, "Champion Red was a Pallet Town native and as you well know he is one of the most mysterious men in the world. So I was wondering if there was anything that you and your grandfather as fellow Pallet natives knew anything about Red that others don't; like who his friends were, what were his favourite regions, his favourite training sites and…" Again Cynthia trailed off as Gary fished his phone out of his pocket and glanced at the screen before sighing. "I'm really sorry Miss Lawson but I really have to take this call."

Cynthia nodded politely but frowned slightly; it didn't look anyone was calling him. As Gary wandered off talking to whoever had 'called' him she decided to wander around the corral a bit while watching Ash's Pokémon. She found herself by a small pond and decided to rest there a bit. She took off her high heels and long black coat, revealing a simple black tank top that clung to her curvaceous body, before sitting down and resting her feet in the water. She lay back, closed her eyes and sighed in pleasure as the cool waters soothed her feet.

She lay in silence and just listened. She listened to the call of the Bird Pokémon, to the splashing of the Fish Pokémon, to the various noises of the other Pokémon frolicking around this beautiful slice of heaven tucked away in Pallet Town. As she herself had grown up in the quaint little town of Celestic she knew the joy of growing up in a small and isolated settlement surrounded by the country. She knew how to appreciate the beauty of the natural earth, a skill seemingly absent from many of the modern world's inhabitants.

She took a deep breath, breathing in the fresh air before releasing it slowly. She felt the soft grass with her hands as it caressed her arms and back. She felt the Goldeen nibbling at her feet, causing her to giggle happily. Being a G-Man agent was a very stressful job and her troubles had only increased since the Colossus had struck, she had had only a few hours' sleep since that day and she needed all the rest she could get. This little relaxing break was very welcome to her indeed.

Cynthia frowned when a shadow fell upon her face and she opened her eyes to discover the cause. She was startled by the face staring back at her. It was small tubby dark blue-skinned Pokémon with a red underbelly. It had small paws attached to short stubby arms and legs. Upon its head was a large fin with two egg shaped appendages protruding from either side just behind its coal black eyes. Upon each appendage and its back was a pale blue stripe. Lastly it had a very small tail and a gaping maw of razor sharp fangs, the latter all too visible as it smiled ominously down at Cynthia. "Gible?" Cynthia screamed as it leapt at her face.

**xxxxxxxx**

When Gary was out of Cynthia's hearing range he stopped pretending to talk into his phone before dialing an actual number. The phone rang a few times before he heard a feminine voice, "Hello this is Delia speaking." Gary began talking rapidly, "Mrs. Ketchum Cynthia is here at the lab and she's asking me about Red! Gramps isn't here right now and I don't know what to do!"

Delia spoke reassuringly, "Calm down I'll tell you what to do. Earlier today I was at the Viridian Police Station when Cynthia began asking me questions about Ash. She got a call from Bruno telling her that Lance and his Dragonite had been murdered by an incredibly strong charizard. Naturally she assumed that Red's Charizard is the only charizard strong enough to have done it. I thought it would be best if she believed that that was the truth, so I acted as if I didn't know anything about Red. You have to do the same, convince Cynthia that you don't know Red and tell your grandfather to do the same if you have the chance."

Gary sighed with relief, "Ok Mrs. Ketchum, thanks for the advice, I'll call Gramps now." He hung up only to call his grandfather. He told Professor Oak what he had just been told before he hung up again. Gary was about to go and find Cynthia when an ominous thought occurred to him. He quickly headed back into the lab and accessed the vid-phone. He selected a contact and waited before a familiar face with messy spiked green hair popped up onto the screen. "Hey Liza I need to see Ash's Charizard, is he there?"

Liza frowned, "Well it's funny you should say that Gary…" Gary's face was drained of all colour and his stomach twisted and flopped. His fears were founded it seemed. "Why?" he asked tentatively. Liza's reply hit Gary like a brick wall, "Well Ash's Charizard just took up and left a while ago, it looked like he was heading for Kanto, in the direction of Viridian I think."

**xxxxxxxx**

Gible was happy; it had successfully tripped Sceptile with the help of Squirtle and the ensuing battle had fired him up with adrenaline. He wanted more! He could feel that he was close to evolving and he really wanted to battle so that he finally could. Unfortunately Ash's Kantonian, Johtonian and Hoenn Pokémon were much too strong for him and his Unovian Pokémon were just too weak, this narrowed his choices down to Pokémon from his own region but Infernape and Torterra were too strong, Buizel was too fast now that it had evolved and both Staraptor and Gliscor were too damn high.

Gible suddenly sensed a powerful presence, he turned around and saw a strange blonde woman lying next to a pond. But what drew him to her was the power emanating from the PokéBalls at her waist; they seemed the same level as him! She was a worthy opponent!

"Gible!" he growled happily and he waddled his way to the woman. What Gible didn't realise was that the power he sensed was just a smidgeon of the power of the Pokémon within. The fact that he could even sense any strength at all through the highly insulated linings of a PokéBall meant that the Pokémon within were incredibly powerful.

Gible reached the woman and challenged her loudly, "Gible!" After a few seconds of no response he frowned; it appeared the woman had not heard him somehow. "GIBLE!" he yelled. Again, the woman lay still, absent to the world around her. Gible growled in frustration before an idea came to him. He smiled wickedly.

He leaned over the woman's face, blocking the sun, and opened his mouth, the gaping maw filled with razor sharp fangs but empty of saliva as most Dragon's mouths were. The woman finally opened her eyes and stared at him in horror. She screamed as Gible lunged forward and enclosed her head in his mouth. A few moments later Gible cried as he transformed into formless red energy before being sucked into a PokéBall.

**xxxxxxxx**

Cynthia took a deep breath of fresh air to dispel the horrible stench of the dragon's mouth before looking up at her savior. There stood an old man with short sandy hair and thick eyebrows. His red shirt was tucked into his light brown trousers and he wore a crispy clean white lab coat.

Professor Oak smiled gently down at Cynthia as he pocketed Gible's PokéBall. "I am terribly sorry about that Miss Lawson, that was Ash's Gible and he has an unfortunate habit of biting people's heads. He's never hurt anyone though, are you alright?" After she had calmed down a bit Cynthia lifted her feet out the water and stood up. She wiped her wet feet on the grass as she shook the professor's hand. "I'm fine Professor thank you. Actually I came here to see you." Professor Oak, who had already received the call from his grandson, feigned surprise, "Oh? Whatever for?"

Cynthia slipped her shoes on as she spoke, "I need to know everything about Red that you know, from his favourite food to his favourite training sites." Professor Oak nodded, "I see, I suppose I should have known. You'd best come in then, I'll boil some tea and bring out the biscuits while we talk."

Cynthia smiled at the kindly old man before bowing her head slightly in acquiescence. "Thank you Professor." She picked up her coat and began following the old man back to the lab when he suddenly turned around. "Oh, and Cynthia?"

"Yes Professor?"

"You'd best put your coat back on; my grandson may be depressed but he can only take so much before his flirtatious ways will return." Cynthia looked down and blushed heavily as she realized that her outfit without the coat didn't leave much to the imagination. She hurriedly put her coat on as she tried in vain to dispel her reddened cheeks.

**_Viridian City Gym; 01/04/2013:_**

Blue bid his farewells to Jenny and Bruno before leaning back in his chair and resting his fingertips together, his index fingers resting upon his lower lip. He had no doubt that Jenny was disappointed with how little he had told her about Red, but he had gotten very interesting information in return. Apparently earlier this morning Jenny had interviewed a certain Mrs. Ketchum with Cynthia, this was pleasing to Blue for he now had a trump card to play.

He had also been informed of Lance's demise which had apparently occurred near to his Gym, but it was of little importance to Blue, he knew that Jenny's theory was hogwash, he didn't know who had been at the Conference and he didn't know who had killed Lance, but he knew that Red definitely wasn't the culprit. He knew this because as much as he hated Red, he knew that Red was a good man and that he wouldn't kill people without a pure and just reason.

This Ash character though… Blue hated Ash after the kid had destroyed most of his expensive Team Rocket operations, especially the one with Mewtwo at Mt. Qena. Not to mention what Ash had done to his son. No, Blue may have enough money to bribe the League and the Chief G-Man to allow him to keep his Gym and continue his illegal Team Rocket operations and Blue may have fooled his soft pathetic father and abandoned his only son, but Blue did not have enough money to recreate or recapture Mewtwo and Blue could not fool Mewtwo into working for him, but neither could he abandon his dream project.

Blue unclipped one of his PokéBalls and released the Pokémon within. His Alakazam appeared in flash of white light and nodded at his master. Blue spoke, "Alakazam, you will travel to Pallet Town and find a woman who lives there called Delia Ketchum. Just watch her for now and if she has any Pokémon be sure that they are not in the way when the time comes. Incapacitate or recruit them it's up to you, but Delia is not to be harmed. As the clock strikes midnight on the morning of the 3rd, you will subdue her and bring her to me. Do you understand?"

Alakazam nodded before crossing his spoons and disappearing. Blue sat back smiled ominously; he was going to have a lot of fun with a beautiful woman like Delia, and he knew people who wouldn't be happy about it. His smile grew as the path to his goal became much, much clearer.

**_Viridian City Police Station; 02/04/2013:_**

Thick silence rang out in the waiting room of Viridian City's Police Station, interrupted only by the occasional sniffle or cough, or by the tapping of impatient feet. Max looked around the room as he clutched his sister's hand with one hand and soothingly rubbed her back with other. He did not appear his age of 15; he had grown in height but still remained scrawny and his face still retained its baby fat. But he was remarkably mature for his age and so despite his sister being older than him by five years, he knew that she needed more comforting than he did.

May had grown into an incredibly beautiful woman; although her body was already more developed than most her age back when she travelled with Ash, it had only developed more as she grew. She had a generous bosom and well-defined rear and her arms and legs were lined mostly with muscle and a small amount of fat, a result of her rigorous exercising which she maintained for her role as a famous Coordinator. She currently wore her red and blue shirt that extended down over her navy cycling shorts, and upon her head was her famous red and white bandanna.

Max knew his sister was beautiful and he could admire it from a proud brotherly perspective. He also knew what May's friends thought of her appearance as, one night at a party thrown by Mrs. Ketchum Ash's birthday on his year off, he had overheard all of Ash's male friends, consisting of Brock, Gary, Tracey, Ritchie, Todd, Barry, Kenny and even Harley, remark on her looks. Even Ash had agreed that May was the most attractive of his female friends, and it was quite obvious that Ash was madly in love with Misty.

Max heard a yawn from the other side of May and glared at the owner of said yawn. May's 'loving', 'caring' and 'sweet' boyfriend Drew was slumped in his seat, eyes shut tight and mouth wide open as he yawned. Max really couldn't see what May saw in the green-haired idiot, she called him sweet and caring, etc. But all Max could see a typical man throwing flirty-bordering-on-creepy comments and roses at her just to get her into bed with him.

But what had Max really confused is how May could call her boyfriend sweet and caring when it was obvious that he cared nothing for her feelings and emotions. This was further proven by the fact that all he had done since the 'Valley of Death' explosion was taunt, flirt with, and feel up his sister as he usually did. Couldn't he see that she was in mourning?! Indeed May was grieving not just the loss of Ash and Brock, who may have well been two more brothers, but also the loss of her best friend Dawn.

Sure May had met Misty and the two were close, but Dawn was to May what Brock was to Ash, they were practically siblings. The two Coordinators had shared each other's deepest secrets and fears and had spent many a night together watching Disney movies, eating ice cream and discussing boys. Max had often watched them train together in his backyard as he had developed a small crush on his sisters' best friend, and he could see how close the two were by the joy the shared in each other's company. Max returned his attention to his sister as he saw her eyes watering, her nose dripping and her shoulders shaking. He gazed into his sisters' beautiful blue eyes and saw sadness and… anger?

Max frowned, he was worried that May might actually believe that Ash really was responsible for the death of Dawn. The siblings had not spoken of the event as it was just too painful to speak of, so Max knew not the thoughts of his sister regarding it, aside from the obvious grief. Max was also sad of course, he had lost a brother and mentor in Ash's fate, whatever it may be, and Brock was dear to him as well. But Max knew his sister needed him and so, displaying once again his remarkable maturity, he sucked up his troubles and focused on comforting May as he looked around the room yet again.

To his left sat Ash's Unovian travelling partners, a stunning black woman with reddish tinted eyes a head of huge purple hair that reached almost to her feet and a remarkably well dressed man with large green eyes and smooth green hair that stuck up at the front in a neat tuft. The latter appeared a much friendlier and more approachable man than a certain other green-haired man that Max knew.

Though Max had personally never met the pair he had overheard Dawn talking about them when she was over for one of her and May's slumber parties. He knew that the woman was called Iris Hawthorne and she was a Dragon Tamer training with Champion Alder to become the next Unovian Champion. The well-dressed man was Cilan Stevenson and he shared his Striaton City Gym Leader status with his two brothers, Cress and Chili Stevenson. They appeared exhausted but this didn't surprise Max; Unova was very far away so they must have flown most of yesterday afternoon, through the night and arrived this morning.

They were both obviously grieving, their faces marred by reddened eyes and noses. Iris appeared the worst off of the two and she sniffled every now and then. Max stared at Iris; there were not many black people in Hoenn and she was the first one he had seen aside from Brock. She was darker than Brock and her skin shone under the bright light of the waiting room. Max continued to stare at the dark woman until she glanced at him and caught him staring at her. He blushed and quickly looked away and at the other residents of the room.

Opposite from him sat Ash's beautiful mother and first rival, Delia Ketchum and Gary Oak respectively. Max narrowed his eyes at the latter; it was clear from Dawn's ramblings about the young researcher that he had made an impression on her during her travels in Sinnoh and Max wasn't too happy about that. However Max decided to ignore his dislike of the well-known womanizer for the time being; He was one of Ash's closest friends and he was no doubt mourning the loss of the Raven-haired man that had brought all them together as well. But he did notice that Gary looked a bit nervous as he glanced around the room, as if he knew some terrible secret that no one else did.

Max noticed that Mrs. Ketchum also looked a bit nervous but he supposed that was reasonable; she was the mother of the man who had allegedly killed Brock and Dawn and plunged the Pokémon world into confusion and fear. She knew that whatever she thought, her son would now always be a target for grief and anger, and she knew that her son's friends would be looking for answers.

Max briefly glanced at his sister to find her glaring at Mrs. Ketchum, a fact that the latter woman was well aware of as she shuffled anxiously and adjusted her dark blue skirt while pointedly looking everywhere but May's direction. Max frowned again and gently squeezed his sister's hand, drawing her attention to him. He conveyed love and support through his eyes but gently shook his head. Her glare withered gradually before she smiled weakly but with gratitude and returned her gaze to her lap.

Max turned his attention to the last pair in the room who sat to his right next to the door through which they had all arrived. A tall, well-built and athletic looking red headed woman and an older and scruffy looking… hippie… sat in a similar manner to Iris and Cilan, obviously very much in pain and sorrow, though the red headed woman's appearance made Iris look as if she had just won the lottery in comparison.

They were of course Misty Waterflower, Ash's best friend and crush and Gym Leader of Cerulean and toughest Gym Leader of Kanto, and Tracey Sketchit, a Pokémon Watcher and artist who smelled of hemp and who was currently dating Misty's eldest sister Daisy. Max had no idea what need the esteemed and prodigious Professor Oak had of the usually stoned artist, but he suspected the latter's seemingly limitless supply of cannabis had something to do with it. An old man needed his 'pain medicine' after all.

Max took a close look at Misty, although he had met her years ago in Hoenn he had not known of Ash's huge crush on her at the time, so now that he knew he was curious as to what drew the raven-haired man to her. Max could see immediately that Misty was a gorgeous woman; she wore tight blue jeans and a tight light blue tank top that really didn't leave much to the imagination. It was obvious that she exercised regularly as she had not a trace of fat on her body yet she wasn't too skinny, implying she had a lot of muscle, but not enough to lose the sensuous curves of a woman.

Her fiery red hair had darkened slightly and she had grown it out, she no longer kept it in her side ponytail rather a standard ponytail at her back of head with a fringe and few strands down the front and sides of her face. But what really caught Max's attention were her eyes that were framed by perfect and elegant eyebrows the same colour as her hair. Though her pupils were reddened with mourning, the stunning green of her irises were still very visible. Unlike Cilan, whose green eyes blended in with his hair and face and as such were sort of forgettable, Misty's eyes stood out and radiated beauty and gracefulness.

Ash, it appeared despite his denseness, had a fine taste in women, though Max highly doubted that Misty's appearance was the only reason a sincere man like Ash had fallen in love with her. If it was true that Ash's crush was reciprocated like Brock had said, then Ash was a very lucky man indeed.

Tracey, however, was somewhat of a joke amongst Ash's other friends, they all respected his skill as an artist and even as a Trainer, but it was well known that he smoked a lot of hemp and therefore he wasn't always as sharp and perceptive as he used to be when travelling in the Orange Archipelago with Ash and Misty. As a result of his habit he often forgot to wash so he tended to smell and his hair was often tangled and messy, it was a real mystery how he had managed to snag the eldest Sensational Sister as his girlfriend.

But he was grieving as well and Max deigned to reserve his judgments of the Watcher during this period of mourning. He looked once again to Misty and watched her grieve. Her shoulders shook and tears rolled steadily down her face, she clutched tissues in her hands, occasionally using them to wipe her tears and reddened nose.

Max's musing was interrupted by the sound of a door opening and he turned his attention to the new arrival. The regal and beautiful Cynthia Lawson entered and glanced around the room before bringing her penetrating gaze to him.

**xxxxxxxx**

Cynthia slowly looked around at the room and all its occupants with a stern yet somehow friendly face, only four of nine seated returned her gaze as it fell upon them. She recognized Delia and Gary she acknowledged them with a nod of her head, which was returned. The only other two that returned her gaze she did not recognize, she figured that the blue haired teenager with glasses was Max Maple, sister to May Maple, the brunette beauty sitting next to him. But she had no idea who the green-haired man on the other side of May was.

Perhaps if she actually cared about Pokémon Coordinating she would have recognized him as Drew Hayden who, until recently as he was now dating May, was considered the most eligible bachelor in Coordinating. But Cynthia did not care about Coordinating and so she ignored his arrogant smirk focused instead on Max, who was staring at her with a mixture of wonder, weariness and even trepidation. She tried to reassure him by smiling gently before she turned to Ash's mother and gestured to her with her hand.

The auburn haired woman stood up slowly before making her way past Cynthia and into the room from which Cynthia came from. Cynthia then looked to the red-headed woman and called her name, "Misty Waterflower, will you please follow me?" Misty looked up slowly and stared at the blonde Champion with piercing green eyes that seemed to pull Cynthia into her soul. Cynthia could somehow sense the Cerulean native's pain through those stunning eyes and she lessened her stern expression hoping to make the red-head feel a bit more comfortable with the whole situation.

Cynthia turned around and headed back into the room when she saw Misty rising from her seat. She shut the door behind Misty and gestured for her to sit next to Delia on one side of the table in the middle of the room. Upon the table was a screen attached to DVD Player. Cynthia sat down on the opposite side and began to fiddle with the DVD Player and screen as she began speaking. "Mrs. Ketchum and Miss Waterflower, I have called you in here to ask you a few questions regarding Ash Ketchum."

She paused as she managed to get the Player to work, before continuing to speak, "What I am about to show is the footage of the actions of the as of yet unidentified man codenamed 'the Colossus' at the Final of the Lily of the Valley Conference that took place on the 23rd of March 2013, informally known as the 'Valley of Death'. I realise that this may be hard to watch but I ask that you pay careful attention to the video and especially to the Colossus so that we may perhaps learn his identity."

Luckily, thanks to today's superior technology, all cameras at stadiums and concert halls immediately sent footage of what was occurring to the nearest Pokémon Centre, which was then stored in the Centre Database. Therefore Cynthia had only to access Database and download the footage of the Colossus at the Conference and burn it onto a DVD.

She had also checked the measurements of the Colossus recorded by the podium and she found that they indeed did not meet Ash's measurements which caused her to wonder why the referee was not alerted to this fact. But she now had proof that the Colossus isn't Ash Ketchum which was very good news.

"I do have some news that will perhaps make it slightly easier to watch however, Delia I did as you asked and checked those measurements and they did not match your son's measurements, proving that the Colossus isn't Ash." Cynthia grinned as Delia smiled widely and even Misty appeared to brighten considerably at the news.

"Now I know that you were no doubt watching the final on TV and have already seen this footage but you may have been caught up in the excitement of the match and therefore missed a few things, also this footage was filmed by a secret camera situated on the Podiums. The camera is usually used for a referee to decide if an illegal action had been performed in a match or contest but in this case it provides a close-up of what happened. Please tell me if you see something unusual."

Cynthia began to play the recording and the three seated women stared intensely at the screen as the entire event was repeated a couple of times before Misty yelled, "Wait pause it there!" Cynthia, startled by Misty's shout, fumbled for the remote but failed to pause it in time, so Misty took the remote from the Champion's hands and rewound it herself. She paused it when the Colossus' Pikachu first came out onto the battlefield before leaning forward and studying the yellow mouse intently.

Misty suddenly grinned and turned to speak excitedly at Cynthia, "Miss Lawson I've seen that Pikachu before, and it isn't Ash's Pikachu!" Cynthia saw a look of realization appear on Delia's face before she leaned in to get a better look at the Pikachu. Sure enough she noticed there was something odd about it; the Pikachu on the screen had a tuft of hair upon its forehead that poked upwards.

* * *

**And that's the second chapter done, I realise that it was less dramatic, with a lot less dead people, than the first one, but it contained a lot of important information for the story to progress.**

**So we learn that Blue and Giovanni are the same person and that Lance has been killed, but by who? Was it really Ash's Charizard that did it?  
And why did Red's Charizard appear so different at the 'Great Slaughter' twenty five years ago? (I think you will probably guess this one.)  
Why do Red and Blue hate each other so? Was there indeed a girl involved?  
Who does Blue remind Jenny of?  
What do Delia, Gary and Prof. Oak know?  
****Who is Blue's father and who is his son?  
****What does Blue want with Ash's mother?**

**And lastly who is the Colossus if not Ash?**


	3. Chapter 3: Within Thy Empty Stare

**So I have discovered the power of a review; your generous reviews inspired me to write more and hence release this chapter a bit earlier than intended so for that I thank you.**

**Most of you guessed correct on the Colossus' identity so well done on that.**

**A couple of you have asked why this is a PokeShipping story rather than RayShipping (AshXCynthia).  
I suppose it just comes down to personal taste in the end; I just prefer PokeShipping.  
Though I do enjoy RayShipping as well.**

**But you raised a good point that it seems unlikely that Misty could still care for Ash if she doubted his innocence in the first place, so I went back and changed it so that she never doubted him.**

**IMPORTANT!:**

**I also noticed that, due to me messing about with the earlier chapters, part of the first chapter was missing... which included Lance's death scene.  
So some of you may have been by the second chapter.**

**I have fixed it but if you missed what happened, basically Jenny escorted Lance out the police station, met with Bruno and asked him out. Then Lance took off on his Dragonite while Bruno drove away. Something attacked Lance and Dragonite and they fell on Bruno's car, the impact of which killed Lance.**

**Also in the previous chapter Blue ordered Alakazam to kidnap Delia at 9 PM, if you go back you'll notice that I changed it so that Alakazam is to kidnap Delia at midnight on the 2nd rather than 9 PM on the 3rd. That's kind of important to this chapter.**

**But here is the next chapter and it's a bit more dramatic than the last one.  
**

**A large space two paragraphs means that the setting has changed, either to a different character or location or time, etc.  
However a series of x's separating two paragraphs means that it is still in the same setting, but the point of view has changed to someone else in that setting.**

**Please read and constructively criticize, comment on problems you find. Thank you.**

**Flames will be ignored.**

**There is an excerpt in here which comes from Nightwish's 'The Poet And The Pendulum', which I do not own. It's a fantastic song and I highly suggest you listen to it if you like female-fronted rock bands.**

******I don't own Pokémon.**

* * *

**Chapter 3: Within Thy Empty Stare**

**Viridian City Police Station; 02/04/2013:**

Cynthia was pleased but annoyed, she was pleased that Misty had been able to possibly identify the Colossus, but she was annoyed that Misty's suspect wasn't Red. She supposed she should be relieved that the world's strongest Pokémon Trainer wasn't on a killing rampage but it was well known that Red was the only trainer known to have Colossal Rank Pokémon. So the fact that this relatively unknown Ritchie Jackson, as Misty had called him, had gotten his hands on Colossal Rank Pokémon was worrying and the source of her irritation.

As for who killed Lance, Cynthia had received Nurse Joy's report on Dragonite earlier and she knew that the mysterious charizard was definitely of Colossal Strength, so Cynthia figured that Ritchie killed Lance as well, especially since Ritchie actually had a charizard according to Misty.

Cynthia supposed that another boon to the whole situation is that since they now knew that Red wasn't killing people, he could be their strongest ally against the Colossus, but that again led to the problem of finding the damn man. Her talk with Professor Oak had yielded no results and she had met with Jenny and surprisingly Bruno before her session with Delia and Misty, so she knew that Blue knew nothing of the Master's whereabouts either.

Bruno had also told her of his plan to try and ask the Legendaries to help and, while Jenny had scoffed at his plan, Cynthia admitted that it was worth a try. So she had asked Bruno to ask the nearest Legendary, wherever that was, and see what sort of deal could be made. As far as she knew they were on their way to Pallet Town to catch a ferry to Shamouti Island in the Orange Archipelago, where Lugia, Guardian of the Seas, apparently resided.

Cynthia realized with a start that she had drifted off into her thoughts, so she returned her focus to the two seated in front of her. She had since dismissed Misty and Delia and called in Gary and Tracey, she didn't think that they would be able to help her find either Red or Ritchie, but since she had had all these people called in she figured she might as well ask them what they knew.

She stared at the two men before she spoke to the older one, "Mr. Sketchit, what can you tell me about Ritchie Jackson?" Cynthia leaned back and awaited her answer. Tracey leaned forward, placed his hands upon the desk and was about to speak when he noticed the screen on the desk. His eyes widened and he gasped, "That's… that's a beautiful microwave… Miss umm… Mrs… no… Mrs. Championess!" Gary groaned and face-palmed as Tracey giggled, "That's a TV Tracey."

Cynthia raised a brow before noticing the Watcher's reddened eyes and bittersweet stench. "Mr. Sketchit, are you high?!" But Tracey didn't respond as his eyes were fixated on the 'microwave', it looked like he was trying to open the 'door'. Cynthia stared at him incredulously; this man came into a Police Station for a G-Men Investigation… while high on weed!

Gary, who found Tracey's predicament too painful to watch any longer decided to try and save the stoned Watcher. "Miss Lawson please forgive my friend's state, you see he is both a Watcher and an artist so a lot of his drawings are impromptu and are done in awkward positions and because of this he sometimes has issues with his joints. He uses my grandfather's prescription for cannabis to relieve the pain sometimes."

Cynthia nodded understandingly but inwardly smirked; she knew that Gary's excuse for Tracey was bullshit but she also knew that there were more important things to do right now than arrest some pothead. Since the Watcher appeared to be preoccupied she turned her focus to the brunette researcher sitting next to said Watcher. "Well Mr. Oak, perhaps I can finally get a few answers from you before you run off again hmm?"

She had said that in jest of course and Gary chuckled nervously, he was about to reply when Tracey burst out laughing, "HAHAHA! Hohohoho Gary! She got you good there eh? Hehehe!" Tracey continued chuckling until he realized that he didn't understand the jest, at which point he frowned and started muttering to himself. When it became apparent that he wasn't stopping anytime soon, Cynthia went ahead with her questions.

"So Mr. Oak, I showed Miss Waterflower and Mrs. Ketchum footage of the 'Valley of Death' incident and they identified the man on the podium, codenamed 'the Colossus', as one Ritchie Jackson. What do you know about Ritchie Jackson?" Gary was shocked at the news, "I met him a couple of times and he and Ash were really close friends, in fact they met during Ash's first League at the Indigo Plateau. They eventually faced each other but Ash lost because-"

Gary was interrupted by Cynthia waving her hand. "Yes yes, Misty already told me about all that. Do you know anything else about him?" Gary, a little perturbed by Cynthia's impatience, nodded, "Well I was talking to him at one of Ash's Homecoming parties once, and he remarked that he was from Frodomar City here in Kanto. I've never heard of the place though."

Cynthia sighed, as a regional representative of the G-Men Council she was required to know all the regions and their cities, mayors, histories, etc. She knew that there was no city in Kanto called Frodomar and there never was. She slumped in her seat and that's when she noticed that the young researcher was fidgeting nervously with his hands upon the desk. She knew this was unusual behavior and so she knew that Gary knew something that she didn't. This irritated Cynthia as she took her job very seriously and there was nothing she hated more than when people withheld useful information for her investigations, no matter the reason for their silence.

"What is it Gary?" She asked with an annoyed expression upon her face. Gary was startled but then he sighed, he supposed he should have known that a G-Men Detective could see through him. "Well… since you now know that the Colossus isn't Ash, I suppose it's safe to tell you this. The phone call that interrupted our discussion last time was from Liza Thane, a charizard caretaker who resides in the Charicific Valley Natural Reserve in Johto. She told me that Ash's Charizard had took up and left, she told me that she thought he was heading for Viridian City… This happened roughly two hours before Lance was killed…"

Cynthia sat forward in alarm, "Why didn't you tell me yesterday?!" she asked, voice raised and bristling in anger. Gary, intimidated from the Sinnoh Champion's anger, stuttered nervously, "W-well I d-didn't want to tell you in case y-you thought it was A-Ash that killed Lance." Gary gulped as he saw Cynthia groan and pinch the bridge of her nose.

Cynthia, barely able to control her fury now, spoke threateningly, "Four things Gary, firstly you withheld information integral to a G-Men Investigation from a G-Men Official, an act which I could have you arrested for!" Gary was really quite scared now, Cynthia was probably the most powerful woman in the Pokémon World and he had managed to piss her off, and now she was threatening him with arrest!

Cynthia continued speaking in that ominous tone, "Secondly, I think you misunderstand me, I am not your friend, I am not Mrs. Ketchum's friend and I am not Ash's friend. I am not here to prove Ash innocent; I am here to catch a killer before he kills again. If Ash turns out to be that killer I will not hesitate to put him down. Thirdly I have no proof that the Colossus and Lance's murderer is the same person so while Ash may not have been at the Conference, he could have easily been the one to kill Lance. What you have told me has listed Ash as my primary suspect for the murder of a G-Men Official and Regional Champion."

Gary paled as he realized that he may have just doomed Ash, Mrs. Ketchum was going to kill him! If Cynthia didn't kill him first that is.

"And lastly, when I was 'interrupted'" Cynthia made quotation marks with her fingers as she said that, "by Liza's 'phone call' I hadn't yet told you of Lance's demise, which means that either you knew about it beforehand, labelling you as an accessory to murder, or that 'phone call' wasn't really Liza and whoever it was told you about Lance. Or perhaps you didn't know about Lance at all until you saw Mrs. Ketchum today on your way into Viridian, which means that you never spoke to Liza which means that you don't know anything about Ash's Charizard which means that you could be trying to frame Ash for Lance's murder!"

Cynthia knew that wasn't true but she also knew that Gary's 'phone call' was fake, which meant that he was still hiding something from her. Cynthia was no stranger to cheap underhand tricks to get people to talk, in fact her 'promise' to Ash's mother the day before about how Ash was still alive was, while partially genuine as Delia's plight had truly tugged at her heartstrings, mainly a ruse (she knew that Ash was likely dead) to get the mourning mother to trust the G-Men Agent and cough up information she might not have done otherwise, and Cynthia's accusation of Gary's framing of Ash was no different. It was just a scare tactic to get the researcher to talk, and it succeeded.

Gary was visibly shaking now, "N-no no no! I did speak to Liza I promise!" He sighed; he knew that Cynthia knew the phone call was fake, so he knew that he was going to have to tell the blonde Champion at least some of the truth. He just hoped Mrs. Ketchum could forgive him.

He took a deep breath, and then began to speak, "The 'phone call' that interrupted our discussion was fake; as soon as you had left I called Mrs. Ketchum. I told her that you had come to the Lab and that you were asking questions about Master Red. I asked her what to do and she told me to tell you nothing useful about Red, I told Gramps to do the same afterwards. I then called Liza because I suddenly got a feeling that something was wrong with Ash's Charizard. It was then that she told me about his sudden departure."

"Why did Mrs. Ketchum tell you to do that?" Cynthia questioned while glaring ferociously at the poor shaking researcher. Gary nervously wrung his hands before speaking again, "Gramps, Mrs. Ketchum and I thought that as long as you thought that Red was responsible for the 'Valley of Death' and later Lance's murder, then Ash would at least be safe from the Law."

Cynthia leaned forward, "And what information do you three have that would prove otherwise?" she asked sharply. Gary looked down and mumbled something but Cynthia couldn't hear him. Her fury multiplied, "Talk louder Oak!" she snapped viciously. Gary's head shot back up and with a quivering voice, he did as she commanded, "R-Red is d-d-dead Miss Lawson, Mrs. Ketchum received a p-package a few years ago and in it w-was Red's cap and an old videotape. I-it was h-his s-s-suicide n-note and-."

The screeching of Cynthia's chair suddenly being pushed back interrupted him as she stood up and slammed her fists on the metal desk loudly, "You knew that the Kanto Champion and Pokémon Master was dead and you didn't inform the Police!" She shouted furiously, she was reaching her boiling point, which was probably the reason why it didn't occur to her anger-addled mind that Gary's story didn't really make much sense. She continued ranting, "Not only do you neglect to tell me that Ash could be Lance's murderer but you-"

She was interrupted by Tracey standing up, walking around the table and hugging her, "Don't worry Championess, don't worry, he can't hurt you anymore…" he whispered softly as he stroked the back of her head. Cynthia's eyes widened before narrowing sharply; she had reached her boiling point. With a snarl she shoved the stoned Watcher away from her before grabbing the hair at the back of his head, sweeping his legs out from under him with her foot, and promptly smashing his face onto the cold hard surface of the metal table. There was an audible crunch as his nose broke and as Cynthia let go of his head and he slipped off the table and onto the floor, blood could be seen leaking out of his nose. There was also a smeared trail of blood on the table.

Gary was now standing with his back against the wall, staring with fear at the ferocious Sinnoh Champion as she rolled the Watcher onto his stomach with her foot before leaning down, bringing his arms behind his back and clasping a pair of handcuffs around his wrists. "Tracey Sketchit, you are under arrest for the consumption of the illegal substance cannabis, and for physically assaulting a G-Men Official. You have the right to remain silent, anything you say can and will be used against in the court of Law, you hippy bastard!" She snarled. She then grabbed his hair and, with strength that defied rationality, she pulled him up to his feet before grabbing his neck and roughly guiding him out the door and into the waiting room.

The occupants of the waiting room looked up at the commotion and were shocked at what they saw. Cynthia saw Misty and Delia get up but before they could open their mouths she fixed the latter with a murderous glare and pointed her finger at her and then at the door she had just come through. "You! Get in there and wait for me! And you!" She turned to the red-head and hissed at her, "Not a word or you'll be joining your sister's boyfriend here!" Instead of doing as she commanded, Cynthia was surprised when the two women returned her glare.

"How dare you talk to us like that! We have come here, while in mourning might I add, at your behest to help you with your investigation, and you abuse Tracey and threaten us with arrest?! We have no legal obligation to help you and we will not if this is the way you will treat us!" Delia said sharply to the furious blonde. "You can't arrest me! I've done nothing wrong! And why is Tracey's nose bleeding?! Misty questioned angrily as she stepped up to examine the Watcher's nose, she then she noticed his hand locked behind his back, "Is he in handcuffs?!" Misty shouted.

Cynthia growled, "You're wrong Delia. You, Gary and Professor Oak _will_ help me or I will have you three arrested for failing to supply important information for the G-Men Investigations of the Colossus' attack at the Conference and the murder of Lance!" Everyone in the room except for Cynthia, Delia, Misty and Tracey gasped as they heard that last bit; none of them had known about Lance's death.

Cynthia gestured to Tracey, "As for this stupid hippy, I'm arresting him for the consumption of the illegal substance cannabis, and if any of you try to stop me, I'll have you arrested for attempting to interfere with an arrest!"

"You can't do that!" Cynthia's glare snapped to the new voice, whose owner appeared to suddenly regret drawing attention to himself. Nevertheless the young Maple boy continued speaking, "You can't arrest someone for having consumed cannabis, only if you caught them either in possession of or in the act of consuming the drug can you arrest them. Otherwise you are assuming he had possession of the drug, and you can't arrest someone because of an assumption!"

Cynthia snarled at the young boy and was about unleash hell on him when May stepped protectively in front of her brother and glared at the blonde Champion, her eyes daring her to shout at her brother. Drew looked on interest though it didn't look like he was willing to get involved as he crossed his arms and purposely avoided Cynthia's glare. May frowned at the lack of support from her boyfriend but returned her attention to the furious blonde.

"My brother's right Cynthia, you can't legally arrest Tracey and if you do, we will report you for abusing your position as a G-Men Official." She said surprisingly calmly, as if she weren't a distraught wreck just a moment ago. Max smiled gratefully up at his sister, despite their constant arguing and fighting, they still loved each other very much and they always stood up for each other.

Cynthia was about to erupt when she looked around the room; everyone, besides Drew, was staring at her, some with fear and some with anger and defiance. She realized that if she wanted their cooperation, she was going to have to calm down before she alienated herself any further. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath before exhaling slowly, her fury deflating as she did so. She removed the handcuffs from Tracey's wrists and returned them to her coat pocket before shoving him towards the door that led out of the waiting room, "Get out of my sight." She said sharply; she was still pretty angry, but she could think with a relatively clear head now.

As Tracey, bloody nose and all, left the station she turned to Gary, who was standing in the doorway to the interrogation room, and sharply gestured for him to sit in the waiting room. She then slowly looked around the room; she was going to send them all away when Misty had told her about Ritchie seeing as the investigation was no longer about Ash, but now that Gary had told her about Ash's Charizard she had to assume that Ash killed Lance, making him the primary suspect, therefore she still needed to speak to these people.

She turned to the Maple siblings, "Will you come with me please?" She waited while they shuffled past her and into the interrogation room. However she raised both an eyebrow and a hand when the green-haired man tried to follow them. "Umm… Who are you?" she asked. Drew who, like most young men, was a big fan of the gorgeous blonde Champion, appeared greatly offended by her question. "Who am I?! I'm Drew Hayden!" he replied indignantly, all fear of the blonde now gone in the face of his offended ego. Cynthia continued staring at him with her brow raised; she still had no idea who he was. "And I'm Cynthia Lawson, Champion of Sinnoh, am I supposed to know who you are?" Max smirked as Drew spluttered, but May frowned and tapped Cynthia on the shoulder.

"Miss Lawson he's my boyfriend, and I would appreciate it you let him in with me." The Sinnoh Champion looked at May, her anger bubbling up again. She would 'appreciate' it?! Who did this girl think she was?! She may be the daughter of a Gym Leader but Cynthia was the fucking Champion of Sinnoh! She spoke ominously, "Mrs. Maple you may have convinced me to let Mr. Sketchit go but don't think for a moment that you can tell me what to do in my own investigation!"

She turned back to Drew, "How well do you know Ash Ketchum?" she asked. Drew, who knew of May's thoughts regarding the raven-haired trainer, thought he saw an opportunity to impress his girlfriend. "Ash Ketchum? Well I know he's the scumbag that killed several thousand people a few days ago… why do you ask?" Drew's smirk faded when he saw Cynthia's expression; she looked at him as if he were insane. It was when Cynthia's stare slowly drifted behind him that he realized what he had done.

He turned around slowly and came face to face with a furious mother bear, to the beast's right stood Misty and Gary, glaring at him with venom in their eyes. To the beast's left stood Iris and Cilan, the former glaring with the same venom as Misty and Gary and the latter with a disapproving frown on his face. Finally he focused on the mother bear herself. Delia spoke quietly but ominously, "What did you just call my son?" Drew gulped and turned to face the trio behind him, hoping for support but Max had that infuriating smirk on his face, May avoided his eyes and Cynthia just continued staring at him expressionlessly.

Cynthia suddenly smiled wickedly, "I'm sorry Mr. Hayden, but I don't know who you are so I will not be needing you, why don't you stay here and get to know Ash's friend and family?" she asked rhetorically while ushering the siblings into the room before following them and slamming the door shut behind her.

Drew turned around and smiled nervously at the mother bear while slowly edging towards the exit. However he soon found out that the exit was blocked by none other than Misty Waterflower, who smiled viciously down at him. Drew gulped.

**xxxxxxxx**

Cynthia sat down opposite May and Max before leaning forward, placing her elbows on the desk, and resting her chin upon her clasped hands. She remained silent as she stared at the siblings. May and Max glanced at each other in confusion before looking back to the Champion seated in front of them. Were it a more suitable time Max would have been bouncing off the walls in excitement, the most powerful female trainer in the world was seated in front of him after all. But a combination of the morbid situation and Max's newfound fear of the blonde after her scene in the waiting room left him both nervous and very silent. Of course the smeared blood on the table didn't do much to calm his nerves.

May, however, eyed the blood with distaste before looking up and meeting the Champion's steely gaze with defiance and determination. Max glanced at his sister and sighed, he had a feeling that May wasn't going to make this easy for his nerves, indeed he soon saw May open her mouth angrily.

"Well? You just gonna stare at us? Or will you do your job and ask us questions?" Cynthia's eyes narrowed and Max gulped. "I know you're angry at Ash, otherwise your boyfriend wouldn't have pulled that stunt out there, and an angry mind makes for prejudiced opinions, something I have no need for. So I will direct my questions to your younger, more composed and obviously smarter brother." Cynthia, who didn't realise the hypocrisy of her statement, ignored May's outraged spluttering and instead focused on the nervous blunette teenager.

She knew that he was fifteen years old which meant that he was going through puberty, which meant that the only thing on his mind nowadays was likely food, Pokémon, and breasts. Then again, Ash had always shown interest in only two of those things, and breasts weren't one of them. Nevertheless unless he was gay, which Cynthia doubted, a little harmless seduction would no doubt loosen the teenager's tongue.

With that in mind Cynthia smiled coquettishly at Max while delicately brushing her bangs above her ear, revealing her usually hidden left eye. She panted slightly while waving her hand in front of her face, "All this drama has me getting hot." She said slyly before unbuttoning her coat, revealing her tight low-cut tank top that showed a generous amount of her formidable cleavage.

She glanced up and smirked inwardly at the young boy's reaction; his jaw almost reached the table and his eyes were fixated on what only a privileged few have witnessed. Cynthia, having a huge dislike for media whores and such, always tried her best to keep her private life private, hence why she always wore that coat, to keep her body hidden from the prying eyes of the paparazzi. She had always made doubly sure that her past boyfriends and hook-ups never videotaped her while she was changing or showering or… doing other things… to them or otherwise…

But while Max may have been enraptured with the beauty sitting before him, his sister was not. May scoffed in disbelief while shaking her head, she knew what Cynthia was doing; she had done the same many times to get Drew to do what she wanted. But she wasn't a couple of decades older than Drew, that coupled with the fact that it was happening to her younger brother made it seem so much more disgusting. She glanced at her brother and rolled her eyes at his slack jaw and ogling eyes before reaching over and smacking him on the back of the head and frowning at him when he looked her way.

The teenager blushed and then focused his gaze on his hands, which were fiddling with each other nervously. Cynthia leaned forward, making sure that when he looked up he had direct view of her cleavage, and began her inquisition. "So Max Maple, what can you tell me about Ash Ketchum?" Max glanced up and blushed heavily at the view that beheld his eyes. "He decided to focus directly on her face… her beautiful, flawless, unblemished face… with delectable lips and serenely arched eyebrows… Max shut his eyes tight as he tried to focus on what was asked of him, he stuttered nervously, "W-well A-ash was…"

He took a deep breath as he thought about the raven-haired Pokémon trainer who had taught him so much about life. He then opened his eyes and focused directly on Cynthia's steely grey ones. With a clear and passionate voice he began speaking, "Ash was-is the man who made me who I am today, he is the man I hope to become one day. Ash is my brother, perhaps not by blood but in every other sense of the word; he is by brother by spirit, by companionship, and by mentor. I love Ash Ketchum as I love my sister and as I love my parents. I may have taught myself all there is to know about Pokémon, but Ash taught me how to raise them, how to train them, how to battle with them, and how to love them. He may not have won a single League, he may not be the strongest Pokémon trainer I know, but he is without a doubt the greatest Pokémon trainer I know."

Cynthia leaned back impressed; the boy was a good orator and it was obvious that held the missing raven head in very high regard. She glanced at the boy's sister. May held her head in her hands, her shoulders were shaking and the unmistakable sound of sobbing permeated the air. She repeatedly whispered "I'm sorry Ash, I'm so sorry" amidst her cries. Max's speech and dedication to the boy who had taught the siblings so much about the world had ripped down her walls of hate and reminded her of the love she held for that special raven head. It wasn't the love of romance but rather the love of friendship and familial bonds. Ash Ketchum was as much a brother to her as Max was.

Max gazed sadly at his sister before reaching over and rubbing her back soothingly. "Oh Max…" she whimpered as she lunged at him and squeezed him tightly while sobbing into his shoulder. Max held her just as tightly and continued rubbing her back as tears came into his eyes at the sound of sister's pain and guilt over the loss of not only Brock and Dawn, but Ash as well.

Cynthia smiled as she buttoned up her coat and made herself as regal and graceful as she was before; she had gotten what she needed. While there was no documented proof that Ash was innocent of Lance's killing, the love the two siblings had of the raven haired trainer that was so clearly displayed in front of her was proof enough to her of the merits and honesty of Ash Ketchum. He was no murderer and since Cynthia was a high-ranking agent of the G-Men, she could manipulate the law as she pleased. She decided that when she publicly announced Lance's death, she would also declare Ash innocent of both the actions of the Colossus and the murder of Lance. She could use Ash's Glalie and a picture of Sparky, which, according to Misty, was the name of Ritchie's pikachu, to pardon Ash from the 'Valley of Death' incident and as for Lance's murder; well she could just create some proof for that, perhaps a poorly made video of a masked female attacking a Lance lookalike, that should be enough to draw suspicion away from Ash.

She had briefly debated whether or not to reveal the information of this Ritchie Jackson to the world when she learnt of him from Misty, but she had decided that the world needed to know that the G-Men were working on the case. A false sense of security was important for the scared people of the Pokémon world; they needed to believe that the G-Men were in control, especially after those recent protests and rumours about the G-Men affiliating with criminal empires and syndicates, and also unfairly bending the law into their own hands. She supposed that last one was true since that was pretty much was she was doing to declare Ash innocent.

Cynthia realized that releasing the information about Ritchie would probably alienate his friends and family, if they weren't involved that is, and likely cause them to lose their jobs, social standing, etc. But she didn't really care; unlike her ex-colleague Bruno she figured that the suffering of a few people was well worth false comfort and the dispelling of possible riots and uprisings against the G-Men.

Cynthia stood up, catching the attention of the mourning siblings, and spoke gently, "Thank you, I can see that you need some time alone and I've gotten all I need, you may go." The siblings wordlessly nodded and stood up, Max was the first through the door but before his sister followed, she was stopped by Cynthia, "Wait May." She turned back and Cynthia smiled apologetically at her, "I'm sorry for what I said and how I acted to you, I was angry at the Colossus and I unfairly took it out on you." May again nodded before stepping through the door without a word.

Cynthia leaned back and smiled; while her anger was not planned, everything else she had done afterwards to both get back into the group's circle of trust and pry what she had needed from the Maple siblings had been. She had purposely angered May and seduced Max knowing that the younger sibling would no doubt try to impress her with what he knew of Ash, as she had hoped May had broken down at Max's speech, had she not then Cynthia would have still doubted Ash's innocence and she didn't want to waste time and effort looking for another missing person.

She stood up and headed back to the waiting room to dismiss everyone, since she had gotten all the information she needed about Ash she didn't need to talk to any of them anymore. When she got there she saw strange scene. Gary was glowering at Drew while Cilan and Delia held him back; there was blood on his forehead and Drew had his head held back and was pinching his nose as blood dripped from it. May was fussing about the green haired Coordinator and glaring at Gary while her brother was smiling gleefully. Misty and Iris stood next to each other, creating a barrier between Gary and Drew. They had their arms folded and were scowling at Drew.

**xxxxxxxx**

May had exited the interrogation room just as Gary's head lunged forward and smashed into Drew's face. The researcher's hands that gripped Drew's collar were immediately torn away by the green-haired Unovian and Delia. May gasped and ran to her dazed boyfriend while Misty and the dark-skinned Unovian stepped in front of Gary as he was pulled away. She pried his hands away from his face to get a good look; to her relief his nose didn't look broken though it was bleeding quite heavily. She glared at Gary while rummaging about in her bum bag for tissues. As Cynthia entered the room Drew stood up sharply and spoke to her, though due to him holding his nose his voice came out as a nasal whine.

"Cynthia!" He pointed at the steaming brunette researcher, "This man attacked me! Have him arrested at once!" Cynthia raised her eyebrow incredulously at the Coordinator, "Mr. Hayden we are not on a first name basis, and why should I waste precious time arresting the grandson of the esteemed Professor Oak when I don't even know who you are?" Drew spluttered indignantly, "You were about to arrest that other guy just for smoking weed! But now arresting him," he gestured to Gary "is an inconvenience?! What the fuck?!"

May gasped "Drew! You can't speak to the Champion like that!" Drew turned to stare at May in disbelief "May! You're my girlfriend! You're supposed to side with me!" he yelled, May, in return, glared at him "I'm not going to side with you when you yell demands at the frikkin' Champion of Sinnoh!" Drew huffed in disbelief and anger before turning around and rushing out the door. As May sighed, Cynthia gestured apologetically to everyone in the room, "I am sorry everyone for losing my temper like that, it was unprofessional for me to do so, please forgive me." Everyone nodded accepting her apology.

Cynthia continued, "I'm afraid Miss Hawthorne and Mr. Stevenson that I must apologise once again to you two as I have all the information I need on Ash Ketchum and no longer need to speak with you. I could have you sent back to Unova in my private jet if you like." She awaited an answer as the two Unovian natives looked at each other briefly before looking back at her, Cilan then spoke politely "Thank you for your gracious offer Miss Lawson, but we will decline, we would like to stay here in Kanto a little while."

Cynthia nodded before turning to the Maple siblings, "What about you two and the mighty Drew Hayden?" Max chuckled at the blonde's jab at the green haired Coordinator and even May smiled a little; she knew her boyfriend was a bit full of himself. "Would you like to take my jet back to Petalburg?" Cynthia continued. May answered, "No thanks; Drew promised to take me on a cruise to Cinnabar Island and afterwards around the Orange Archipelago tomorrow, but I'm sure Max would appreciate the offer, right Max?" She looked at her brother who was nodding excitedly, "Yes Miss Lawson I would love to take your offer!"

Cynthia chuckled at the teenager's enthusiasm before gesturing for everyone to follow her. May and the rest of them followed the blonde Champion out of the Police Station before convening at the steps in front of the entrance. As she glanced about for Drew she was approached by Misty. The red-headed Cerulean native smiled kindly at her, "It's good to see you again May, despite the circumstances. How have you been?" May smiled sadly in response, "It's good to see you too Misty, honestly I haven't been too well, Dawn's death was incredibly hard for me, Brock's as well. At first I hated Ash but now I just feel terrible for blaming him. I should've known better."

May's eyes watered as she mentioned Ash, she felt really guilty about blaming him. Misty, seeing the brunette's tears, brought her into a comforting hug, "Hey now don't cry May, you were angry and looking for someone to blame, it's only natural that you would blame Ash, the only reason I knew he was innocent is because I'm his oldest friend." May pulled back and giggled "I bet you wish he was more than just your oldest friend though, eh?" Instead of blushing as May had expected, Misty just smiled sadly and spoke wistfully, "Yeah… I just wished I had at least told him before… before…" As Misty struggled to finish her sentence May realized what she had said. She gasped, "Oh Misty I'm so sorry, I didn't mean-"

She was cut off by Misty who raised a hand and smiled weakly, "It's fine May, really, Well I've got to go, I'd better find Tracey before he confuses a bench for a toilet again." May giggled and she waved goodbye as the red-head headed off. She was then approached by Delia and she grew a bit nervous; she hoped she wouldn't have to answer for Drew's hurtful comment. Her fears were quelled however as Delia smiled warmly at her.

"Hello May, I was wondering if you and Drew would like to stay at my house for the night since you'll be heading off to Cinnabar tomorrow. I've already spoken to Iris and Cilan and they've accepted. Would you like to come?" May was amazed at this woman's hospitality and generosity, here she was offering her house to her and Drew even after Drew offended her! May smiled gratefully at her "Thank you for your offer Mrs. Ketchum, I think we will accept, I just have to find my moping boyfriend haha!" She giggled.

However May's temporary happiness was crushed by overwhelming guilt as she realized that the only difference between her and Drew before she had spoken to Cynthia was that Drew was brave enough, or stupid enough, to voice his thoughts out loud. And she knew that Mrs. Ketchum knew; that much was obvious when the older woman had avoided her glares in the waiting room before the sessions had started.

If Delia had noticed May's sudden gloom, she didn't show any signs that she had; she still had that gentle smile that only a mother could own upon her face. "Well I'll leave you to it then, be sure to get there before supper time; I'm making my famous lasagna!" Delia said. May's face brightened considerably; it was well known amongst Ash friends that Mrs. Ketchum's cooking was to die for and her foreign dishes were especially good. "Don't worry Mrs. Ketchum; I will make sure we will be there to sample your delicious cooking." Delia smiled her thanks and said "Then it's settled! It'll be nice to have some company around the house."

May nodded with a grin upon her face as the auburn haired mother moved away and walked towards her car with Gary and the two Unovians. She turned around to find her brother standing there with sad smile on his face. "I guess this is goodbye for now" he said tentatively. May smiled and pulled Max into a hug, "Yeah, for now… but I'll be home before you know it!" she exclaimed happily. "I'm glad to see you smiling again sis… maybe now you can catch a better boyfriend than grass head over there." Max teased. May pulled back and glared at her brother playfully before lightly punching his arm. She turned around and saw her boyfriend scowling at Max.

She turned back to Max to finish her farewell. "You stay safe okay, don't do anything rash." She said. Max smiled and said, "You too sis, don't eat Mrs. Ketchum out of house and home!" He laughed and ran away in the direction Cynthia was heading before May could get hit him again. She glared at him before smiling sadly; this would be the first time she would be away from her brother since the explosion.

Max had been so supportive during the whole thing despite his own suffering. She hadn't realized the extent of her brother's selflessness until his little speech about Ash in the interrogation room; it was then that May had realised that Max was feeling the same pain as her, and she had selfishly wasted his support and comfort on thoughts of hate towards Ash and her own thoughts of pain.

May's gloomy thoughts were interrupted as Drew walked up and stood next to her awkwardly. She glanced at him with the corner of her eye, "Something to say Drew?" she said frostily; she was unhappy with his demand for her support against Cynthia when he had failed to provide the exact same thing against the exact same person when said person was threatening to arrest Tracey. Drew, however, replied just as frostily, "No." May sighed; she was going to have to work on her boyfriend's arrogance.

"Well Mrs. Ketchum invited us to stay at hers for the night and I accepted, so let's hit the road; it's at least an hour to Pallet Town." May said in a no nonsense tone. Drew frowned at her, "I thought you hated Ash." May sighed, "I did, but then I remembered who he was and what he's done for me." She said vaguely. Drew shook his head lightly and began muttering under his breath. May ignored him as she headed towards the car park and their rental car.

**Close to Shamouti Island 02/04/2013:**

Bruno groaned as he finished heaving into the bowl in front of him, his massive hands that were gripping onto the rim slipped off as he rolled over onto his back next to the toilet. He panted while stared at the bright lights above him. He heard a giggle and weakly lifted his head to see the source. His wonderful and supporting girlfriend had her hand over her mouth trying to stifle her laughing as she watched him suffer. "The great and mighty Bruno, who outwrestled an onix, who fought a machamp with his fists and won, brought to his knees by the gentle waves of sea!" Tears leaked out of her eyes as she began laughing uncontrollably.

Bruno growled, "Woman, you are evil. There's nothing gentle about this!" Jenny glanced at the porthole window… the sea was flat… She continued chuckling, "How is it that you can remain standing during an onix's Earthquake but that," she gestured out the window, "is too much for you?" she asked incredulously. Bruno replied with a question, "How is it that you're still standing there mocking me and not helping me!" he said grumpily. He groaned as he felt his stomach rising again and clambered his way back up to the toilet. After he finished retching he returned to previous position on the floor and muttered hoarsely, "Why couldn't we just take a bloody plane? Why? Why? Why?"

Jenny rolled her eyes, "For the hundredth time, Shamouti doesn't have an airport!" she shouted. Bruno groaned, "What primitive people must live on this island that they don't have an airport?" he questioned in agony. Jenny snorted, "That's rich coming from a man who spends most of his time in a karate outfit!" Bruno glared at her and made a shooing motion with his hand, "Go away and let me die in peace woman!" Jenny playfully glared at him before cracking up into a smile; she knew he was just teasing her, he would never seriously talk to her in that manner and if he ever did, well she would make sure that he would eat his words.

After informing Cynthia of what Blue had told them and Bruno's plan to recruit the Legendaries the day before, the two had immediately left for Pallet Town to catch the fastest ferry to Shamouti Island. Bruno had paid the captain a handsome sum of money to get them there as fast as possible, hence why they were already at the island less than 24 hours since their departure from Pallet.

The policewoman stopped reveling at his pain before heading over to clean him up and get him ready to move; they were almost at the island. "Come on, we're almost there, according to the G-Men reports of what happened here 6 years ago, a girl called Melody saw Lugia when the Legendary Bird Trio went crazy. We should ask the locals where to find her and then question her on how to speak to Lugia." Bruno sighed but nodded; he knew how important this was, besides it was his idea in the first place. "Alright, I think I'm fine now, let's g-" The giant promptly sat up and retched into the bowl again. Jenny sighed.

**Pallet Town; Ketchum Household; 02/04/2013:**

Delia opened the door to find May and Drew standing on her porch, she smiled brightly, "Welcome! Please come in and make yourself at home, I'm almost done cooking and will be ready to serve in about 15 minutes." As she ushered them in she subconsciously ignored Drew and focused on May, but one could hardly blame her for that, Drew hadn't said very pleasant things about her missing son after all.

Delia had prepared herself for the snobbish Coordinator; she knew that he was an unpleasant person, honestly she couldn't see what a dear girl like May could see in him, but she decided to be polite to him and keep her patience in check for the evening. Little did she know just how much her substantial patience was going to be tested.

She asked her new guests what they wanted to drink as they settled down on the couch next to Iris and Cilan and as she left to go fetch their beverages she could see May and Iris already settling into a comfortable conversation, while Cilan politely attempted to speak to Drew, but the Coordinator seemed pretty unresponsive. As she returned to the dining room she saw that the Unovian Connoisseur had seemingly given up on talking to Drew and was now sitting with his fellow Unovian and her companion, talking lightheartedly with them. Drew however was slumped on the single couch and was staring at the phone in his hands. Delia frowned, where did he get his manners from?

As she handed out the drinks on the tray she held, she noticed that her Mr. Mime wasn't anywhere to be seen. She looked around the room and found him standing by the window staring out into the garden. The Barrier Pokémon didn't make a noise, he didn't move, he just stood there and stared into the garden. Delia frowned, this was very strange behavior for the usually chirpy and obedient Pokémon, but she wrote it off as discomfort from having so many unknown guests in the house and returned to her task of handing out the drinks.

She noticed that May kept glancing at her boyfriend, at which point her smile drooped slightly before growing again as she turned back to the Unovian natives. Delia then moved to Drew to hand him his drink, which was simple earl gray tea with a drop of milk, as he had asked. The Coordinator grabbed the cup, took a sip and grimaced before placing it back on the tray, "Not enough milk." he said as if she had committed the worst sin.

"Drew! Don't be so rude!" May yelled at him. Drew's head snapped towards her and Delia, who could see an argument brewing, spoke quickly, "It's fine May, I'll just make another cup, it's not a problem." She breathed a sigh of relief as the Hoenn couple seemed to calm down.

But that was not to be the last of the green-haired Coordinator's insolence that evening. As Delia ushered everyone to the dining room and presented her starter meal, a delicacy from a far off region called Kalos that was called 'Garlic Bread', and then her main course that was lasagna, a famous recipe from Alto Mare City, Drew had complained that he didn't want 'weird foreign food' and then when he discovered that there were no fast food burger joints in Pallet Town, he had called it a 'backwards hillbilly town' and then settled for eating a pack of crisps. Such obnoxiousness continued and by evening's end Delia's eye was twitching, Iris' hands clutched her legs as she imagined them around Drew's neck, Cilan had a perpetual frown on his face and May had her head in her hands.

Delia sighed and glanced at Iris, catching her attention before gesturing to May. Iris understood and stood up before walking over to May and speaking, "Hey May would you like to show me your Pokémon?" May glanced up with watery eyes and smiled weakly at the Dragon Tamer. "Sure Iris." The two headed out the sliding door to the garden.

Delia then turned to Cilan, "Would you mind helping me set up bedding for everyone Cilan?" Cilan stood up and smiled politely, "Of course Mrs. Ketchum, just tell me where to put them." Delia smiled gratefully and spoke, "Well there is a bunk bed in Ash's old room, I think the girls can have them. You can take the guest room Cilan, and as for you Drew," Drew looked up from his phone when he heard his name mentioned, "I'll put a mattress in the living room for you." Drew shrugged before returning his attention to his phone.

As Delia walked out the room and to a cupboard with Cilan following her, she noticed that Mimey still hadn't moved from his spot at the window and frowned again before returning her attention to the task at hand. She opened the cupboard and grabbed a few duvets and pillows and their covers. She turned and noticed Cilan pulling out a nice, smooth and thick mattress. She stopped him before winking and smiling wickedly at him and reaching deep into the cupboard to find the thinnest, scruffiest and lumpiest mattress the Connoisseur had ever seen. She handed the 'mattress' to Cilan before reaching back in and pulling out a thick woolen blanket that could give one a rash just from looking at it.

Cilan returned her wicked smile before grabbing Drew's 'bedding' and carrying it to the living room where he set it on the floor. Drew walked out the dining room and Cilan snickered when he saw the Coordinator's face of horror.

**xxxxxxxx**

The two women sat on the bench and watched the incredible view as the sun set over the rolling hills of Pallet Town. There was something calming about the sunset and both girls felt as if all their troubles were gently washing away. They made no sound as they listened to the bird Pokémon chirping as they settled down for the night, the gentle sound of Delia humming as she washed the dishes in the kitchen, the distant noises of farm animals; the neighing of ponytas and rapidashes and the mooing of miltank.

May sighed peacefully, "I always love coming to Pallet Town, there's something so calming about the simple life the people have here. There's no Tournaments or Contests or Competitions, there's little crime and violence and the Pokémon are used for normal chores rather than battling." Iris hummed her approval, "This place really is very beautiful, Ash was lucky to grow up here." May nodded happily and then glanced at the window to the living room, wanting to make sure that Mrs. Ketchum or Cilan was strangling her boyfriend. However what she saw was Delia's Mr. Mime still standing at the window looking directly at them with a completely empty stare. He didn't move and he eventually began to grow on the brunette's nerves, it was actually kind of creepy the way he just stood and stared at them.

May looked away before her nerves got the better of her and focused instead on her new friend sitting next to her. The two began to talk about themselves getting to know each other better before Iris jumped and exclaimed, "Enough chit-chat! I came out here to see your Pokémon!" May giggled and stood up as well. She then grabbed all the PokéBalls on her waist and released them.

First to come out was a large butterfly that had a white and black body, black, red, yellow and blue wings, huge blue eyes, two black antennae and a large curled black proboscis. The next Pokémon was a light blue foxlike mammal with long, pointed ears, dark eyes and two dark blue, rhombus-shaped markings on its back. Upon its head appeared to be some sort of tuque.

Then came out a huge blue tortoise with two huge cannons coming out of its back and a large dark green quadruped prehistoric herbivore-like Pokémon with a huge flower growing out of its back. Next was a huge fat bear with a white belly and face, the rest of its body was a dark blue-green colour and it had huge claws growing out of it paws.

Last but definitely not least was a bipedal red Pokémon with beige, yellow and gray accents. Behind its head, there were beige, hair-like feathers that continued downward and surrounded its chest and abdomen. It had a V-shaped crest upon its small red face that protruded out into a vicious hooked beak. It had shaggy legs that hid claws similar to those on its three-fingered hands. The Pokémon were May's Beautifly, Glaceon, Blastoise, Venusaur, Snorlax and Blaziken respectively.

"Wow May! They look so powerful!" May smirked proudly, "Well what did you expect from the greatest Coordinator in the world?" Iris laughed, "Oh May, you sound just like Ash!" May giggled before she noticed that Blaziken, which was arguably May's strongest Pokémon, looked very alert. The Blaze Pokémon's wrists were ablaze and her head swung around quickly with large irises. May knew that that meant they weren't alone.

"What is it Blaziken?" she asked carefully so as not to spook her Pokémon. Blaziken suddenly locked onto the Mr. Mime standing at the window and growled at it. The Barrier Pokémon suddenly blinked before just disappearing instantly. May and Iris gasped and the former turned to the latter, "That was weird, Mr. Mime can't learn Teleport can they?" she asked. Iris nodded, "By TM they can, we'll have to ask Delia whether she taught that one it." May nodded and turned back to her Blaziken, who it seemed had calmed down considerably, and returned it before returning all the others and heading inside with Iris.

**Viridian City Gym; 02/03/2013;**

Blue had his feet rested on the desk as he leaned back and puffed on his cigar, sending smoke rings into the air above him. He held a glass of whiskey in his hand every now and then he removed his cigar to take a sip. Overall he felt very powerful, like Corleone or Tony Soprano, and he smirked. However that was all ruined when Alakazam suddenly appeared in front of him causing him to inhale his cigar smoke, choke and drop his whiskey. As a human's natural reaction was to lean away from a sudden threat he did so, unfortunately his chair could only handle so much leaning backwards. The legs slipped and the Team Rocket Boss rolled backwards across the floor as the chair fell.

He stood up and glared murderously at his Pokémon who stared back impassively. "Care to explain what you're doing here, both at the wrong time and without the package?" Blue asked dangerously. Alakazam did not react but suddenly a series of images onslaught the Boss' mind. He saw a brunette woman, a black woman, two green haired men and a bunch of the brunette's Pokémon. The images stopped and Blue sighed, it seemed that things had gotten a bit more complicated.

He had recognized the Hoenn couple as two successful Coordinators but that's all they were: Coordinators. None of their Pokémon would be a match for his, even if they all attacked simultaneously, he was once a Champion after all; his Pokémon were ruthlessly strong. It was the other green haired man that had him worried. Blue had learned long ago never to underestimate a Gym Leader and while he knew that Alakazam could take on the Gym Leader's Pokémon alone, he also knew Alakazam would struggle if all of them were to release all their Pokémon.

Blue sighed again and unclipped a PokéBall before tossing to Alakazam, "Here take Machamp, the two of you should be able to deal with this." Alakazam caught the PokéBall with not with his hand but rather his psychic mind before he disappeared. As Alakazam teleported away Blue wondered about the black woman he had seen. He shrugged, if he didn't know who she was then she probably wasn't important or strong.

**Pallet Town; Ketchum Household; 02/04/2013:**

There were only fifteen minutes until midnight and May was still awake. She wished that Mrs. Ketchum had let her sleep in the guest room but the kindly mother had insisted that the beds in Ash's room were far more comfortable and easier to sleep in and that she couldn't let the ladies have anything less than the best she had to offer. But the problem wasn't that the bed was uncomfortable, it was that she was sleeping in Ash Ketchum's room.

Everywhere she looked there was some reminder of Ash or some item of his. His desk was cluttered with framed photos of all his travelling companions, including one of herself with Ash, her brother and Brock. On his laptop was a sticker of every one of the Pokémon he had caught with Pikachu in the middle. On the windowsill there was a neatly ordered row of all his caps, including the red one with a dark center and green PokéBall logo in the middle.

Even the damn bed sheets smelt of the raven haired trainer, a natural earthen and herbal smell that often permeates the air after a long day of rain. She clutched her sheets and brought them up to her nose to smell once again. While travelling in Hoenn she had eventually grown a small crush on the handsome raven head, but that was only natural, had she been travelling with any other cute and friendly boy she would have likely crushed on them as well. So as her crush faded and she became more mature she had set her sights on more mature boys and one that was preferably a Coordinator, which was how she became besotted with the arrogant and rude Drew Hayden.

May sighed, she was very upset at Drew's behavior throughout the whole evening but deep down, she knew that she wasn't surprised. She realised she had ignored the age old adage: "Look not at how he treats you but rather at how he treats others, for with time that is how he will treat you." She had fallen for his charms and thought it was sweet at how he treated only her nicely, but now she realized that he wasn't sweet at all, he was just a rude arsehole.

But even her love troubles weren't as distressing as the guilt she felt lying in the bed of a man she had betrayed. She could feel the tears coming up again and quickly swung out of the bed to head to the bathroom. She was stopped by Iris' voice, "Can't sleep either?" She turned to look at the dark-skinned beauty lying on the top bunk and smiled weakly, "Yeah, there's just too many reminders of him in here." Iris jumped down, "Same here, I just miss that little kid so much." She said with a sad smile.

"I'm going to get a glass of water, wanna come?" Iris asked. May nodded and followed the Unovian woman down the stairs to the kitchen. They saw Drew, who had somehow fallen asleep on that horrible mattress, and May frowned. Iris saw the brunette's expression but remained silent; she knew that May could sort out her own boy troubles.

As they approached the kitchen they heard a soft humming and sniffling, they glanced through the archway to see Delia sitting at the kitchen table, staring at a framed photo in her hands with tears streaming down her face as she hummed a simple yet somehow hopeless tune. Eventually the mourning mother opened her mouth and began to sing with a soft, quivering voice:

"Be still my son, you're home  
Oh when did you become so cold?  
The blade will keep on descending  
All you need is to feel my love…"

She looked as though she wanted to sing more but choked with sadness. The two girls shared a sad look before making themselves visible, "Are you alright Mrs. Ketchum?" May asked gently as she approached the grieving woman. Delia lifted her head to see the two girls approaching and tried to summon a smile but failed, "I just miss him so much!" she said as she burst into more tears. May moved over and hugged the weeping woman from behind while Iris watched with a pained expression on her face.

May glanced at the picture Delia was holding and saw Ash as toddler in the cutest pajamas. The little boy had his hand behind his head as he laughed happily. May's eyes watered as she saw the picture; it was just so… Ash-like and it reminded her of her adventures with raven haired boy in Hoenn. It reminded her of how important Ash was to her and as her love and respect for him rose even higher, so too did her overwhelming guilt. She saw Iris pour herself a glass of water and head back upstairs and May knew that the dark-skinned girl could tell she and Ash's mother needed some alone time.

May gently let go of Delia as the latter woman's sobs subsided and sat down opposite her before grabbing her hands with her own. "Mrs. Ketchum I need to apologise to you, when I saw what happened all I could think of was that Dawn and Brock were dead. I don't know if you know this but me and Dawn had grown very close and were the best of friends, I loved her as I loved my brother and I became so angry that she was dead. I forgot all that your son had taught me, I forgot how much your son had done for me, I forgot how much I owed your son for helping me become the person I am today…" May choked off as tears rose unbidden, she tried to continue but her guilt and pain had seized her throat and tongue.

Delia, whose throat was thick with pride at how her beautiful boy had touched this girl's life, wiped away her tears and squeezed the brunette's hands with a soft smile, encouraging her to go on. May burst into more tears when she saw this incredible mother's generosity. "I became so blinded by my anger that I blamed the last person on earth I should be blaming. I blamed your son. And I hate myself for it, I know I can never forgive myself but I hope... I pray that you can find it in your heart to forgive me."

May cried and fell to her knees next to older woman, "Please Mrs. Ketchum! Please forgive me!" she cried over and over again. Delia, who was crying as well, pulled the weeping girl up into a fierce hug. She stroked the girl's hair and whispered soothingly into her ear, "Of course I forgive you, I forgave you before you even knew Ash was innocent." She continued, "But you need to forgive yourself dear, you are one of the sweetest, kindest and bravest people I have ever met and you don't deserve to beat yourself up over an assumption that anyone could make."

May's cries subsided and Delia pulled back only to lean forward and kiss the girl gently on the forehead, "Can you do that for me? Can your forgive yourself?" May smiled weakly and nodded while sniffing. Delia beamed, "And please, May, call me Delia." May's smile grew and they remained silent for a while as their tears and despair subsided.

May, wanting a change of mood, decided to ask Delia what she had discussed with Iris earlier, "Delia, did you teach your Mr. Mime Teleport?" Delia frowned and shook her head, "No, why do you ask?" May, who was quite worried by the news, was about to explain when the grandfather clock in the living room chimed midnight and a grunt and loud crash echoed through the house.

The two frowned at each other before rushing into the living room. They found Drew plastered against one of the walls by some invisible force and in the centre of the room, floating a couple of feet above the coffee table with its legs folded, was a humanoid being with a long, thin snout and two long spikes for ears. It had a yellow skeletal body and brown armoured plates that covered its chest, shoulders, forearms and. It had three digits on each hand and foot and a huge drooping moustache. Its hands were clasped together as if it was praying and orbiting its body were two silver spoons.

Suddenly the beast separated its hands and the two spoons shot towards them. He curled his fists around them until he gripped them strongly, before he slowly descended as his legs unfolded. As soon as his feet touched the surface of the wooden table he slowly opened his eyes. Wisps of blue ether drifted away from his ethereal blue eyes, fixed in an empty stare, before eventually evaporating.

The beast suddenly pushed his hands out and towards the two women and an invisible shockwave flung them against the wall behind them. Before they could slide to the floor the beast opened his hands, causing the spoons to float away eerily, before they began to glow with the same ethereal blue that enveloped his empty eyes. The two women became encased in the same blue and they found that they were frozen in place and that they couldn't make a sound.

There was a sudden thudding from the stairs and Cilan arrived at the scene. As soon he saw what was happening he unclipped a PokéBall and shouted, "Whimsicott, use Shadow Ball!" But before he could complete his throw his wrist was grabbed by a huge muscly hand. The Unovian Gym Leader looked to the hand's source and found a huge, four-armed, gray skinned, heavily muscled figure wearing a pair of legless wrestling pants. The machamp gripped his wrist with its upper right hand and grinned evilly before squeezing hard, causing Cilan's hands to clench his hand and the PokéBall to slip out of his grasp. Machamp caught the PokéBall with his lower right hand but his evil sneer remained focused on Cilan.

Then, with a horrible, cruel laugh, it slowly crushed the ball, killing the Pokémon within.

"NO!" Cilan screamed as he tried to collapse and fall to the floor but Machamp yanked him up by the wrist it was holding. It dropped the remains of the PokéBall and then grabbed Cilan's shoulders with its two upper hands and lifted him effortlessly into the air, exposing his stomach to the beast. May, Delia and Drew watched in silent horror as Machamp, with its two lower fists, began pulverizing the Unovian's chest and stomach. Cilan screamed as his body shook as countless blows were rained upon it, causing blood to spray from his mouth. The beast then grabbed his head with one of its huge hands before spinning him around and releasing him as if he were a discus.

Cilan smashed through the window before landing and rolling across the garden as several shards of glass lacerated his body. He came to a still before lapsing into unconsciousness. All the while the alakazam remained where he was and continued staring expressionlessly at May and Delia with that cold, empty stare. The younger girl began crying again and her sobs caught the attention of the multiple limbed beast, who lumbered over and grabbed the girl by the throat with its upper right hand and proceeded to give her the same treatment as it had Cilan. However it had only gotten once punch in, which was enough to wind May, when a feminine voice was suddenly heard.

**xxxxxxxx**

"Haxorus, Dragon Tail!" A large, gold-plated, black-skinned, wingless dragon with vicious red claws and red tipped sickled tusks shot out from the stairwell, where Iris was standing with an angry expression on her face, before flipping and slamming its glowing green tail onto the arm that was holding May. Machamp roared in pain and dropped the heaving girl before turning to face the new intruder. Haxorus growled viciously and was about to launch himself at the beast before he noticed Alakazam grabbing his spoons and swiping them horizontally, causing a huge purple scythe to shoot out towards him.

Luckily Iris saw it too and issued her next command, "Grab Machamp and then use Fling at Alakazam." Haxorus grinned before lunging forward and grabbing Machamp with claws glowing with the power of Dark energy before the beast could react. He then spun around and tossed the machamp, not unlike it had done to Cilan moments before, directly towards the incoming Psycho Cut. The beast intercepted the super effective psychic move, causing the move to dissipate and a huge gash to open up across Machamp's body, before it slammed into Alakazam, crushing the coffee table, and fell unconscious. Iris, having killed two pidgeys with one stone, ordered Haxorus to use Shadow Claw on the Psi Pokémon, who was already weakened both by the Dark-typed Fling and the sheer mass of the 130 kg Superpower Pokémon.

Haxorus leapt towards Alakazam with a huge black and purple claw sheathing its ordinary claw and slashed across Alakazam's face, causing three diagonal scars to appear. The Alakazam made no noise however, Iris wasn't quite sure if alakazams _could_ make noise, and weakly stood up before procuring a PokéBall and recalling the fallen Machamp. Then it disappeared, leaving nothing but the haunting memory of its empty stare.

Drew and Delia fell to the floor as soon as the Pokémon disappeared, the psychic power no longer present, before rushing over to the winded May. Iris recalled Haxorus before rushing over to the broken window, leaping over the sill and sprinting towards the fallen Cilan. She breathed a sigh of relief when she saw his chest rise and fall, however, her joy was short-lived when she saw blood dripping from his mouth. He had internal bleeding!

She turned to Delia who had made her way outside with Drew, who was supporting May, "Mrs. Ketchum, where's the nearest hospital? Cilan needs help!" Delia sighed, "In Viridian City, but it's at least an hour drive there." Iris unclipped another PokéBall before releasing a black, blue and purple three-headed dragon with empty eye sockets. She spoke to it as she lifted Cilan onto its back and then climbed up to sit just in front of its wings. "Hydreigon, we to head north as fast as possible, I'll tell you when to stop." She then turned towards the others, "I'll meet you guys at the hospital, and I'm sorry for the mess Mrs. Ketchum." she said before the dragon took off.

Delia turned to May and Drew, who were both in shock and resting on each other for support. She spoke gently, "How about you two change into proper clothes, I'll clean up all this mess," she gestured to the glass shards and broken coffee table, "and then we can head off Viridian, okay?" The two nodded dumbly before heading inside and upstairs. Delia sighed before walking over to the cupboard which contained the dustpan and brush. She opened the cupboard door and then fell to her knees screaming.

May, who had just finished putting her shirt on, heard Delia scream and quickly rushed out of Ash's room, catching up to Drew as they both rushed down the stairs. They found Delia on the floor by a cupboard crying and sobbing. May looked into the cupboard before turning around and throwing up on the floor. Drew had a similar reaction.

For in the cupboard lay a Mr. Mime, eyes open and unblinking in an empty stare, one of the blue growths on its head ripped off and shoved down its throat.

* * *

**So there it is, I'm sure you guys have realised by now that this is a dark story, and it will only get darker.  
****Speaking of dark stories, you have to check out Redenzione's 'Pokemon Summit'. It's an excellent PokeShipping story by and excellent author.**

**Until next time.**

**SwallowTheSun**


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